Andy Golbert – Preserving Pilam history to celebrate and foster our ideals
Andy Golbert, H.B. (Lafayette ‘65) has dedicated himself to a lifetime of service to Pi Lambda Phi and the preservation of our proud history. He was particularly interested in the true desire of our founders and the ideals they fought to establish.
As a result, he spent a lifetime doing research, poring through documents, recording his findings, and preserving documents digitally for future generations.
In college, Pilam was an oasis of acceptance
Andy admits that his initial experience of fraternities at Lafayette was not welcoming. He said, “I was completely naive about fraternities. Because of my religion, I was forbidden to join the majority of fraternities on campus. During Rush, I visited fraternities and one told me very, very plainly, they couldn’t take me because I was Jewish.”
“I didn’t know about discrimination. I grew up in Brooklyn. Our block was like the United Nations, so I was a little naive about it. Fortunately, in college I was housed in an upper-class dorm with quite a few Pilam brothers. I liked the guys I met, and learned some things about the fraternity, including its non-sectarian roots.”
Working for Pilam made Andy want to learn more
Andy said of going to work for Pilam after graduation, “I really learned about what the fraternity was all about, and I felt that if I was going to be a long-time help to this fraternity, I should know as much of the history about it as I could.”
He had the opportunity to do that because at the time the office in New York City had most of the historical materials in one spot. Later, he expanded his search, visiting some of the original Pilam chapters including Yale, City College, Cornell, and NYU. Working with the archival people there, he learned more about the origins of the fraternity, and retrieved documents from sources that Pilam didn’t have.
Andy truly admired the early Pilam trailblazers saying, “I learned about brothers who came before me that I knew nothing about, and how committed these men were to the fraternity. They really gave a huge part of their lives to the Pilam flag. Our fraternity would have never survived without them.”
Continuing his research long after his service to Pi Lambda Phi, Andy became a walking encyclopedia of brothers who lived our motto. He cited brothers who served in fraternity leadership roles and had a foundational impact on Pi Lambda Phi, like William “Snap” Melniker, Arthur Garfield Hayes, Eddie Goldman, Oscar Gottfried, and numerous others that only the most studious pledge would recognize from memorizing the New Member Manual.
Andy admired and sought information about all Pilam brothers who broke barriers saying, “The truth about our fraternity, is that it was founded to accept men of all religions, colors and creeds, period.” He pointed out many African-American brothers who fought institutional discrimination during the civil rights movement including: David Law, Rafer Johnson, E. Ted Lewis, James Evans, and John Leeke.
Andy Golbert’s legacy of Pilam history
Like so much historical documentation, most of our history was written on paper, and when in storage, some was lost due to natural disasters. So, Andy compiled and digitized comprehensive information on the founders, the early history of the restoration period, and influential brothers who kept the Pilam ideals alive during those times, preserving the information for future generations.
He researched and assembled records to create complete lists of past Pi Lambda Phi Presidents, National Council officers, and staff, which never existed before.
Andy cataloged Pilam publications including: Interchapter News, Notes from National, The Paragon, and the National Pilam newsletter, The Frater. He studied the Creed, fraternity mergers, and our constitution, and saved the historical documents that were available.
His advice for brothers? Learn more about Pilam history.
Asked if he had any advice for brothers interested in our history he said passionately, “I damn well do. As a Brooklyn boy who really never knew about discrimination, I learned pretty quickly when I got to college about what it was, and what our fraternity stood for. Study our history. Find out for yourself what the organization is all about.”
“From the beginning, we offered open arms to people of all religions, races and creeds. We were a fraternity that accepted all people in the 1890s. Meanwhile, it has taken society decades to change people’s minds about diversity.”
Still in the fight
Andy is still passionate about history and the fight for equality. He’s retired now and lives in Leesburg in central Florida. He said, “It used to be the most racist county in the state and it’s famous for that.”
He got involved with a local philanthropy project to rebuild a school that was funded by Julius Rosenwald, the president of Sears, Robeck & Company, who worked with Booker T. Washington during the Jim Crow era to build schools throughout the South to allow black children to get a good education.
His commitment to Pilam ideals has truly been, “Not Four Years, But a Lifetime.”