Phi Sigma Delta

Phi Sigma Delta was founded at Columbia University by a group of Jewish students who previously "seemed unable to find [a] proper opportunity for the campus fellowship they were seeking.".[2] The founding meeting was held on November 10, 1909, at Maxwell Hyman's house at 22 Mount Morris Park West in New York City.[2] The fraternity's eight founders were:[3]

The purpose of the fraternity was "to foster and nurture the comradeship of its founders."[4] The founders met weekly at member homes, designing the constitution, ritual, and badge.[3] Early in 1911, the fraternity initiated its first new members.[5] By September 1911, the group secured a two-room suite chapter home in Hartley Hall, a dormitory on the Columbia campus. The fraternity was incorporated in the State of New York on June 1, 1912.[3] In 1923, the fraternity had an office for its national headquarters in New York City.[5]

One of the milestones of the fraternity came in 1934 when Phi Sigma Delta began a program to shelter German student refugees at various chapter houses around the country.[3] As America entered World War II, the national manpower drain led to a standstill in the fraternity's expansion program.[3] While some chapters suspended operations, fourteen continued to operate.[3] After the war, alumni paid for memorial plaques for each chapter, noting those who had died during wartime service.[3]

On April 6, 1959, Phi Alpha fraternity merged with Phi Sigma Delta, adding sixteen active chapters that were primarily located in the East.[2] There were three campuses where both groups had a chapter; there were mergers on two campuses while one Phi Alpha chapter was released to join another fraternity.[2] The new chapters were assigned names beginning with the Greek letter Phi.[2]

The fraternity chartered eight more chapters in the subsequent decade.[5] However, it considered another merger for financial and other difficulties in the later 1960s.[5] Negotiations were successfully concluded in 1969 for Phi Sigma Delta to merge into the rapidly expanding Zeta Beta Tau fraternity.[2] At the time of its merger, Phi Sigma Delta had 49 active chapter and 22 inactive chapters, with a total of 19,500 initiated (alumni and active) members.[2][4]

The fraternity's colors are purple and white.[6] Its badge consisted of three Greek letters ΦΣΔ joined obliquely (~angled), in gold, with twenty-four crown pearls set into the gold letters.[2] The pledge pin was round, with a white palm and pyramid set into a purple background.[2]

The official song was the "Phi Sigma Delta Hymn", generally known as "We Sing To Thee, Phi Sigma Delta." It was adopted in 1930.[2] Another song written for the fraternity, c.1923, was "Phi Sigma Delta Forever," words by Herbert Morse & Herman Block and music by Nathan Grabin & Herman Block.

Its quarterly magazine was The Deltan.[5] Phi Sigma Delta also published a member's directory, a pledge manual, and a songbook.[5]

Phi Sigma Delta had graduate clubs in Albany, New York; Chicago, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; Dallas, Texas; Los Angeles, California; New York City, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Providence, Rhode Island.[6]

• Alan J. Altheimer (Alpha), attorney and president Jewish Council on Urban Affairs
• Eric Berg (Zeta), artist[7]
• Arthur Levitt Sr. (Alpha), lawyer and New York State Comptroller
• Robert Q. Lewis (Eta), radio and television entertainer, comedian, game show host, and actor
• Peter Morton (Iota), co-founder of the Hard Rock Café
• Arthur Louis Schechter (Lambda), attorney and the United States Ambassador to the Bahamas
• Nelson Stamler (Upsilon), New Jersey State Senate
• Morris Weinfeld, lawyer, judge, and representative in the New York General Assembly[8]
• Peter Yarrow (Alpha), musician and member of Peter, Paul and Mary.

• List of Jewish fraternities and sororities