Stanley Kerr

Stanley E. Kerr of Hopewell, New Jersey, was in the first large group of NER workers to ship out after WWI ended, in 1919. In Aleppo, Syria, Kerr—who had studied biochemistry—established a lab to screen for malaria and typhus. He also worked as a photographer, documenting the orphans and recording their stories. He was deeply committed to rescuing women and children from captivity in Turkish and Kurdish homes. He estimated that he and his colleagues rescued more than 450 girls within a 50-mile radius of the city over the course of a few months.

Kerr transferred to Marash to become NER’s superintendent of relief work in Cilicia. While in Marash, Kerr met Elsa Reckman, a mathematics teacher at Marash Girls’ College. The couple would later marry in a NER personnel house.

The Turkish Nationalist regime besieged Marash in January 1920. Turkish soldiers massacred thousands of repatriated Armenians and attacked the American Hospital. NER workers converted schools and orphanages into safe havens. As violence in Marash increased, NER determined that the relief stations in Cilicia were no longer safe. In 1920, Elsa and Stanley were instrumental in evacuating children from NER orphanages in Marash to Syria. This arduous 500-mile journey through mountains and snow was made largely on foot.

Once in Beirut, Stanley Kerr served briefly as treasurer for NER operations in Syria and Palestine. He soon became the director of the new Nahr Ibrahim orphanage. The orphanage opened with about 650 boys in January 1923. By August it housed nearly 1000—all of whom had been evacuated from the Turkish interior. The Kerrs knew many of the boys from Marash. Stanley supervised training in marketable trades; Elsa oversaw their education.

Tragedy struck Nahr Ibrahim in its first year when a malaria epidemic spread through the orphanage community. Many of the boys died. Nahr Ibrahim was closed and the remaining boys were transferred to the orphanage at Jubeil.

Stanley and Elsa Kerr traveled to America, where Kerr earned a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1925. They returned to Beirut, where he became the Chair of the Department of Biochemistry at the American University of Beirut (AUB). Elsa Kerr taught Mathematics at the Beirut Women’s College and in 1950 was named Dean of Women at AUB. The Kerrs raised four children in Beirut before retiring to Princeton, New Jersey.

Stanley Kerr published his memoirs, "Lions of Marash", in 1973. He died in 1976, with Elsa following him in 1985.

Their son, Malcolm Kerr, also devoted his life to the region. A respected and well-known political scientist, he taught at the American University of Cairo and U.C.L.A and authored several books on relations among Middle East countries. He was named president of the American University in Beirut in 1982. Sadly, he served in this role for less than two years. Kerr was assassinated by two gunmen while walking to his office on campus on January 18, 1984.

Malcolm Kerr’s son, John Kerr, a professor at Michigan State University’s Department of Community Sustainability, continues his family’s proud legacy. He serves on NEF’s Academic Council and advises on NEF programs.

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