Kurt Albert Gerlach (22 August 1886, Hanover – 19 October 1922, Frankfurt) was a German professor and sociologist.
He had studied at the university of Kiel under Ferdinand Tönnies and received his doctorate in 1911 with a work on the role of Denmark in global economy.
In 1911 and 1912 he went to England and studied at the London School of Economics (LSE) and became a member of the Fabian Society.
In 1913 he habilitated in Leipzig with a treaty on protective measures for female factory workers in England.
He had already designed the agenda of the institute, but because of his untimely death from diabetes in 1922, Carl Grünberg became the founding director in his stead, followed by Max Horkheimer in 1930.