Visionary philanthropist and innovative businessperson Judith Greenberg Seinfeld ’56, H’25 received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree during Syracuse University’s 2025 Commencement exercises on May 11, at the JMA Wireless Dome.
A leader in business and in service to others, Seinfeld has made extraordinary contributions to social causes, communities and the arts and has had a transformative impact on the University through her tireless commitment to education and improving the world, not least through the creation of the Judith Greenberg Seinfeld Prize for Creative Teaching Endowment in 2000.
Seinfeld is the fourth-generation head of Heritage Management Company LLC, a long-standing real estate investment, development, and management company based in Ridgewood, NJ. She has been involved with the purchase, sale, land-use planning, and financing of office and industrial properties throughout the country since 1989.
Before joining Heritage, Seinfeld, a talented photographer and jewelry designer, was Founder and President of Judith Greenberg Gallery, a jewelry design and manufacturing company. Her creations were displayed and sold at galleries throughout the US from 1983-1996. She was also Executive Vice President at Balenciaga Perfumes International.
A longtime patron of the arts and veteran of the stage, she is Co-founder of the Nantucket Comedy Festival and producer of several plays, including The Ferryman, winner of the 2019 Tony Award for Best Play, and Leopoldstadt, winner of the 2023 Tony for Best Play.
Seinfeld earned a bachelor’s degree from the School of Education in 1956, and a master’s degree in administration from Teachers College, Columbia University, in 1957. She was elected to the Syracuse University Board of Trustees in 2002. In addition to her current role as a life trustee participant on the Academic Affairs and Facilities committees, Seinfeld’s service to the University includes previous positions on the boards of the School of Education and the School of Architecture.
Her leadership and financial support of Syracuse University has created lasting opportunities for countless students and faculty members. She has provided lead gifts for the establishment of the Seinfeld Housing Initiative, the Judith Greenberg Seinfeld Scholar Awards, the Judith Greenberg Seinfeld Prize for Creative Teaching Endowment and the Judith Seinfeld Ambassador Scholar Program in the College of Professional Studies (CPS).
She has supported other initiatives in CPS, the School of Architecture (including a book series on modern American housing), the School of Education, the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, the College of Visual and Performing Arts, University Lecture Series, and alumni engagement programs.
She has served as President of the Women’s Division of the Federation of Northern New Jersey; served as a board member of Human Rights Watch-Children’s Division; was a trustee of Nantucket Cottage Hospital; and served as a trustee of the Atheneum Library and Nantucket AIDS Network.