The Biographical Dictionary of America/Adler, Felix

ADLER, Felix, author, was born in Alzey, Germany, Aug. 13, 1851, son of Samuel Adler, a prominent Hebrew rabbi. After his graduation from Columbia college, New York, in 1879 he studied at Berlin and later at the university of Heidelberg, which in 1873 conferred upon him the degree of Ph. D. Returning to America he entered Cornell university as professor of Hebrew and Oriental literature, occupying the chair from 1874 to 1876. In May of the latter year he founded the society for ethical culture in New York, which at once instituted a free kindergarten,—the first of its kind in America. He became professor of ethics in Columbia University in 1903, and was an editor of the National Journal of Ethics. Dr. Adler is the author of "Creed and Deed Discourses" (1877); "The Ethics of the Political Situation" (1884); and "The Moral Instruction of Children" (1892).