Andrew Jagoda '81 with his wife, Deborah; and two daughters, Evelyn and Naomi, during a family trip to Pompeii.

Over the last several years, while attending the annual spring awards ceremony at his daughters' high school in suburban New York, Andy Jagoda '81 has watched as students received book awards from Harvard, Penn, Brown, Wesleyan, and many other top-tier universities and colleges. Where, he thought to himself, was the Brandeis University Book Award?

"It always bothered me that Brandeis wasn't represented," Jagoda said. "Students at Brandeis receive just as good of an education as students at those other schools. My wife (Deborah) said to me, ‘Stop complaining. You can fix it.' "

He did.

On June 2, Edgemont Junior-Senior High School in Scarsdale, N.Y., will present the first Brandeis Book Award to a deserving student. This year's honoree, junior Mitchell Breitbart, will receive a copy of Washington's Crossing, the Pulitzer Prize-winning account of a pivotal moment in American history by David Hackett Fischer, the Earl Warren Professor of History at Brandeis.

"I'm hoping that the book award will help raise the profile of Brandeis at Edgemont," Jagoda said. "You will have a gymnasium full of people who will see Brandeis in the ranks of the most elite universities in the country. I want to get more academically gifted kids to consider Brandeis as their No. 1 college choice."

At the request of the Edgemont administration, Jagoda recommended the parameters for the Brandeis award. In keeping with Brandeis's motto of "Truth even unto its innermost parts," the recipient must exhibit all-around excellence in both the humanities and science while being engaged in the community. Edgemont picks the student and Jagoda selects the book.

"The Edgemont community is grateful to Andy for his generosity in establishing the Brandeis Book Award," said Stephanie Fuentes, the head of the Guidance Department at the school. "It's clear how strongly he feels about Brandeis and what it has done for him."

Jagoda credits Brandeis with helping him discover both his life's work and the love of his life. "Brandeis shaped who I became politically and as a person," he said. "Because of Brandeis, I went to law school, where I met my wife."

An economics major at Brandeis, Jagoda was not sure of his post-graduation plans until he enrolled in a law and economics course with Professor Richard Weckstein. He was captivated with the professor and the subject matter.

"I was so fascinated by it that I said, ‘I want to be a lawyer,' " Jagoda said.

After graduating from Brandeis magna cum laude, he was accepted at Harvard Law School. He met his wife, a fellow student, while the two were part of a protest against the Palestine Liberation Organization. They have two daughters, Naomi, who will be a senior at Penn, and Evelyn, a freshman-to-be at Columbia.

Jagoda is a partner at the New York office of Katten Muchin Rosenman, where he practices real estate law, focusing on large commercial transactions. Katten is a nationwide law firm with major corporate and governmental clients; the firm provides services in the corporate, financial services, litigation, real estate, commercial finance, and intellectual property areas. He also served for a time as counsel at the Resolution Trust Corporation, a federal agency that disposed of real estate assets from failed financial institutions.

Since graduating, Jagoda has been a generous supporter of Brandeis. He has made a gift nearly every year since 1981.

"What am I going to do, hope that Brandeis remains strong and vibrant and expect other people to make the gifts while I do nothing?" Jagoda said. "It's my obligation to support Brandeis. I owe Brandeis everything."