William Horowitz is a distinguished figure in the history of the Aleph Zadik Aleph, having made a lasting impact as the organization’s first-ever Grand Aleph S’gan.

Horowitz was the first Godol of Kanas City AZA #2. He was initiated into AZA #2 on September 1, 1923. He was elected as the first ever Grand Aleph S’gan at the AZA National Convention, after losing in a runoff to Charles Shane for the Grand Aleph Godol election.

In March 1924, he was elected president of The Y.M.H.A. Council of Clubs.

In March 1925, Horowitz and Philip Klutznick won the first ever AZA debate tournament in Omaha., Neb. The team won a unanimous decision over the Council Bluffs team, consisting of Joe Krasne and Abe Katelman, in the finals. The question for the debate was: “Resolved, That Religious Instruction Be Given in Public Schools.”

From The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle:

“William Horowitz and Philip Klutznick were the Kansas City debaters. Both are experienced speakers, and their forceful delivery, superior rebuttals and better material, assured them a comparatively easy victory. William Horowitz made the varsity debate team at the University of Kansas this year, while Philip Klutznick is a member of the freshman squad at the same school.

Horowitz, later a banker, died in April 1984.

From The New York Times: 

“William Horowitz, a Connecticut banker who was also a leader in his state’s educational, religious and civic affairs, died on Monday at the Yale-New Haven Hospital. Mr. Horowitz, who lived in Branford, Conn., was 86.

The cause was heart failure, said his son, Daniel.

A longtime resident of New Haven, Mr. Horowitz was from 1965 to 1971 a fellow of the Yale Corporation, the university’s governing board of trustees. He served on the Connecticut Board of Education from 1955 to 1973.

Mr. Horowitz graduated from Yale in 1929, working his way through school as a Hebrew teacher in a local synagogue. His bridge between Judaism and education continued throughout his life, and he became the university’s first Jewish trustee. In addition, he helped raise funds for Yale’s Judaic studies program, and in 1984 the William and Miriam Horowitz Lectureship in Judaic Studies was created at the school to honor Mr. and Mrs. Horowitz. Active in Many Causes

Mr. Horowitz was a vice president and a director of Botwinik Brothers, seller of machinery in New Haven, a company for which he worked from 1930 until 1972. In 1950 he also became president of the General Industrial Bank, serving for 20 years until it merged with the Hartford National Bank.

At various times he was a director of the International Student Center in New Haven, the Connecticut Educational Television Corp., the Yale-New Haven Hospital, as well as a trustee of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History. He also was a vice president of WELI, a New Haven radio station.