Joseph Meltzer, GVPT '93, Shares Some of His Favorite Memories on UMD's Campus

Huntingdon Valley, Pa. native Joseph Meltzer '93 decided to attend the University of Maryland after a trip to campus to visit his older sister, Stacy Kendall '89. "I had such a good time," he recalls. "It was a place that I immediately felt at home and connected with. I spent one weekend there and said, 'This is where I want to go. This is where I belong.'"

Sure enough, Meltzer fit right in. He found lots of friends, including through UMD's Greek life community and lived on Fraternity Row for one "nice" and, he says with a laugh, "gross" year. And, after some indecision, Meltzer found his academic home in the Department of Government and Politics.

Meltzer made so many memories on campus, he says, "It's hard to pick any one memory out in particular; I had four great years of them." Still, there are some standouts. One favorite memory is the Capitol Hill internship program Meltzer participated in, working for the late Pennsylvania senator Arlen Specter. Meltzer says the "amazing experience" gave him a firsthand look at the legislative process, the politics of bipartisanship and working with constituents. It also enhanced his government and politics coursework—especially that from one of his favorite classes, Professor Emeritus Joe Oppenheimer's course on political theory.

"It cemented the fact that I would probably be going down that path," says Meltzer. "Professor Oppenheimer was very demanding and passionate ... I loved him."

Another favorite is Meltzer's graduation ceremony because his family was there and because it marked "a fitting coda" to his college career. Unbeknownst to him, Meltzer graduated with honors (he says reading his mail back then was a "longshot"). After flipping through the commencement program and realizing he was woefully in the wrong place, Meltzer looked into the audience, spotted his parents waving for him to move forward, and sprinted straight up the Cole Field House ceremony's center aisle with only three names to spare. "I made it ... barely." 

Today, Meltzer is a partner at the suburban Philadelphia law firm Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check, where he leads the fiduciary, consumer protection and antitrust groups. He is also a member of the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences' Board of Visitors, and someone who gives back to the UMD community. It was another Philly Terp—also a government and politics graduate, lawyer and resident of the Lower Gwynedd, Pa. area where Meltzer now lives (and whose children attended the same high school as Meltzer's daughters)—who sparked Meltzer's philanthropy to Maryland.

That fellow Terp is 1990 alumnus Joel Feller. Along with his wife Kim '89, the Fellers established the Joel and Kim Feller Center for Advising and Career Planning in 2020. Meltzer has since supported the Feller Center for Advising and Career Planning Support Fund, effectively naming one of the center's conference rooms and helping future generations of Terps similarly "cement" their career path during their time on campus.

Meltzer has also been an avid supporter of the BSOS Diversity Gift Fund. "There's no substitute for having a diverse student body; there's just not, and you would never get the same kind of experience without one," he says.

"If you had the level of experience that I had in College Park and loved it as much as I did, it's a very good thing to give back so future generations can look back and say the same."

Published on Tue, Sep 12, 2023 - 10:05AM