{{Short description|American academic (born 1959)}} {{Use American English|date=May 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2026}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Anthony W. Marx | image = Anthony Marx.jpg | caption = Marx in 2014 | order = 12th | title = President and CEO of the New York Public Library | term_start = July 1, 2011 | term_end = | 1blankname = Mayor | 1namedata = {{ubl|Michael Bloomberg|Bill de Blasio|Eric Adams|Zohran Mamdani}} | predecessor = Paul LeClerc | predecessor2 = Tom Gerety | successor2 = Carolyn Martin | title2 = President of Amherst College | order2 = 18th | term_start2 = July 1, 2003 | term_end2 = June 30, 2011 | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1959|2|28}} | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | education = Yale University (BS)<br />Princeton University (MPA, MA, PhD) | other_names = | hometown = | years_active = | known_for = }}
'''Anthony William''' "'''Tony'''" '''Marx''' (born February 28, 1959) is an American academic. He became the president and CEO of the New York Public Library in July 2011, succeeding Paul LeClerc.<ref>Taylor, Kate. "Amherst President is Expected to Be Named Chief of the New York Public Library," ''New York Times.'' October 6, 2010; [http://www.nypl.org/press/press-release/2010/10/06/new-york-public-library-names-dr-anthony-marx-next-president?hpfeature=2 NYPL Press release]</ref> Marx is the former president of Amherst College, in Amherst, Massachusetts. Since joining the New York Public Library, Marx has focused on expanding the library’s education programs and on increasing public access to library e-books. He has also prioritized services for researchers and bringing library materials to public schools.<ref name="President and Leadership">{{Cite web|title=President and Leadership|url=http://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/president-and-leadership|access-date=2016-03-02|website=The New York Public Library}}</ref>
==Biography== Marx is an alumnus of the Bronx High School of Science after which he attended Wesleyan University before transferring to Yale University, where, in 1981, he received a B.S., ''magna cum laude''. He received an M.P.A. from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1986, followed by M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in politics from Princeton in 1987 and 1990. Marx completed a doctoral dissertation titled "Lessons of struggle: South African internal opposition movements, 1960-1990."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Marx|first=Anthony W.|url=https://catalog.princeton.edu/catalog/606131|title=Lessons of struggle : South African internal opposition movements, 1960-1990|date=1990|language=English}}</ref> In 2012, one year after he left the college, he received an honorary degree from Amherst College.
After graduating from Yale, Marx spent a year in South Africa participating in the anti-Apartheid movement. Even after returning to the U.S. for graduate school at Princeton, he returned frequently to participate in the founding of Khanya College, a post-secondary college which prepared black students for university.<ref>[http://khanyacollege.org.za/Documents/KCHistory.pdf Khanyacollege.org.za] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061102211940/http://khanyacollege.org.za/Documents/KCHistory.pdf |date=November 2, 2006 }}</ref><ref name="businessweek1">[http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_09/b3973087.htm Campus Revolutionary<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060419093109/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_09/b3973087.htm |date=April 19, 2006 }}</ref>
According to ''BusinessWeek'', one reason the Amherst Board of Trustees chose Marx as president was his support for socioeconomic diversity on college campuses. One of Marx's goals was to make Amherst more accessible to qualified students from lower income families. Marx supports the 'QuestBridge College Match' program at Amherst, an alternative college admission and financial aid process.<ref name="businessweek1"/><ref>[http://www.questbridge.org/students/index.html QuestBridge<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208131620/http://www.questbridge.org/students/index.html |date=February 8, 2007 }}</ref> Marx was arrested for drunk driving in November 2011 after crashing a library-owned vehicle into a parked car <ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/nyregion/new-york-library-president-anthony-marx-is-accused-of-dwi.html|title=Library President Charged With D.W.I.|last=Taylor|first=Kate|date=2011-11-07|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-01-17|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and subsequently pleaded guilty to a criminal misdemeanor for driving while intoxicated.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cityroom.blogs.ny?mes.com/2011/12/09/library-president-loses-license-in-d-w-i-case/|title=Library President Loses License in D.W.I. Case|last=Rosenberg|first=Noah|date=2011-12-09|website=City Room|language=en-US|access-date=2020-01-17}}</ref>
As a board member of the National Book Foundation, Marx was responsible for awarding W. Paul Coates (the father of Ta-Nehisi Coates) a ‘lifetime achievement’ Literarian Award for outstanding service to the literary community. Coates Senior as founder of Black Classic Press has controversially republished anti-Semitic and homophobic screeds from a range of African-American writers. Marx declined to comment on the board’s decision according to The Free Press.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Oppenheimer |first=Mark |title=Why Is the National Book Award Going to a Publisher of Antisemitic Books? |url=https://www.thefp.com/p/national-book-award-w-paul-coates-antisemitism?triedRedirect=true |access-date=2025-02-03 |website=www.thefp.com |language=en}}</ref>
== Personal life == Marx is the father of two children, Josh and Anna-Claire, with his former wife Karen Barkey.<ref>[https://www.nypl.org/about/leadership "President and Leadership"], The New York Public Library.</ref>
== Published works == Marx has written three books on nation-building, concentrating on South Africa.
* Lessons of Struggle: South African Internal Opposition, 1960–1990 (1992) * Making Race and Nation: A Comparison of South Africa, the United States, and Brazil (1998) * Faith in Nation: Exclusionary Origins of Nationalism (2005)
== See also == *John William Ward (professor)
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[https://archive.today/20121214084557/https://www.amherst.edu/aboutamherst/history/past_presidents/marx/bio Anthony Marx bio on Amherst web site] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060419093109/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_09/b3973087.htm Article about Marx in BusinessWeek] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20070208131620/http://www.questbridge.org/students/index.html QuestBridge website-College Match] *[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7221483 Colleges Face Challenges of the Class Divide: NPR] *[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7902570642780157891&q=Charlie+Rose Interview on Charlie Rose Show PBS (After 21 minutes)] *[https://archivesspace.amherst.edu/repositories/2/resources/397 Anthony W. Marx South Africa Research Materials] at the Amherst College Archives & Special Collections
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{{Amherst College presidents}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marx, Anthony}} Category:1959 births Category:20th-century American Jews Category:Living people Category:The Bronx High School of Science alumni Category:Wesleyan University alumni Category:Yale University alumni Category:Princeton School of Public and International Affairs alumni Category:Columbia University faculty Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Category:Presidents of Amherst College Category:Presidents of the New York Public Library Category:21st-century American Jews