Dr. Alfred Lippman, a US diplomat born in New Jersey bequeathed to the USMCEF in 1999 an amount of money to be used in cultural exchanges, a collection of historical books and magazines, and several pieces of antique furniture he ahd collected over the years. That year, the USMCEF inaugurated the Alfred J. Lippman Memorial Library during its May Board meeting activities. The library is physically housed in the offices of the USMCEF in Las Colinas-Irving, Texas.
Dr. Lippman humanitarian work in Mexico dates back to mid-century. In 1950, after learning that the Asilio Josephins orphanage in Mexico City was having financial problems, Lippman donated money to keep it open. When Mexico’s Department of Education needed television sets for its first visual education project, he donated a dozen. Lippman’s humanitarian work in Mexico earned him one of the country’s highest honors, the Aztec Eagle, awarded by President Miguel Aleman in 1952. In 1954, Mexico’s secretary of foreign relations named him an honorary consul of Mexico in New Jersey. In 1963, the Mexican Academy of International Law gave him an honorary doctorate in international law and in 1967 he received the Gold Medal and Diploma of the Mexican National Tourist Council. Lippman was a confidante to five of Mexico’s last 11 presidents.
In 1972 and 1973, Lippman helped to found the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce and served as member of the Board of Directors for 18 years.