Alan Horace Kempner (July 4, 1897 – December 17, 1985)[1] was an American stockbroker, publishing executive, rare books and manuscripts collector, and philanthropist.
[2] Kempner was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, before attending Columbia College, where he majored in Latin and graduated in 1917.
[2] His interest in books led him to join Farrar, Straus and Giroux as a manager and served on its board of directors after retirement.
[2] An avid book collector, Kempner held first edition books as well as manuscripts by Giambattista Bodoni, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, J. M. W. Turner, Agostino Giustiniani, and William Morris.
[4] He also endowed a professorship of biological sciences at Columbia, which was first held by noted biologist James E.