Aviously

Al Tanger passed away on Saturday, June 21st, at the age of 94.

The more days that pass since his death, the more incredible things I keep hearing about the man.

For starters, all I’d known about him was that the Tanger Hillel at Brooklyn College was named after him and his wife. I’ve now come to know that the Woody Tanger Auditorium at the Brooklyn College Library, is named after his son.

But that is all just the tip of the iceberg.

Born in Brooklyn, Al Tanger went on to become a successful radio owner, owning stations in Rhode Island and Maine, among others.

But after ownership, he decided he wanted more, and went to Brooklyn College, graduating at the young age of 81. Nope, that isn’t a mistake. He was part of, and the commencement speaker of, the class of 2001 (speech at the bottom of this article).

In 2009, Al Tanger was inducted into the Massachusetts Broadcasting Hall of Fame, in the same class as Fred Cusick (long-time Boston Bruins announcer (40+ years)) and The Big Mattress host Charles Laquidara (which ran for 30 years), among others.

Info for this post gathered from Inside Radio, the Massachusetts Broadcasting Hall of Fame, and Bloomberg BusinessWeek.