Walter P. Zenner Papers

Walter P. Zenner was born on 18 October, 1933 in Nuremberg, Germany. He graduated in 1955 with B.A. in Anthropology from Northwestern University. In 1958 he received an M.A. in Anthropology from Columbia University, and in 1960, he earned an M.H.L in Judaica from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. In 1965 Walter P. Zenner received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia University. In 1965 he was awarded a Doctor of Hebrew Letters honoris causa from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Walter P. Zenner has taught Anthropology since 1966 at the State University of New York at Albany. He publishes extensively, is the author of two books, and has edited or co-edited eight others. Professor Zenner has published many contributions and chapters in various publications. His articles have appeared in many academic journals, including: Jewish Journal of Sociology, Anthropological Quarterly, American Anthropologist, Archives de Sociologie des Religiones, and Journal of American Folklore.

Walter Zenner’s academic work deals with a number of aspects of Jewish life. Some of his scholarly interests gravitate toward the customs and habits of Sephardic Jews, particularly those who had or have their roots in Syria. He studied the life, conditions, and traditions of the Syrian Jews not only in Israel during research for his dissertation in 1961-1962, but also later when he returned to this subject in the late 1980s and studied the Sephardic community in Manchester, Britain and Chicago, Illinois, as well as in New York.

Walter P. Zenner passed away in his home in Albany on March 18, 2003.