University of Miami Libraries

Alfred R. Camner, Esq., J.D. ’69

University of Miami Libraries Campaign Co-Chair

Alfred R. Camner is a legal, business, and financial authority with more than four decades of hands-on experience in the foundation, management, and counsel of corporations and other organizations. Currently serving as senior advisor to the law firm of Camner Lipsitz, P.A., he also provides guidance to members of boards and owners of financial institutions regarding defensive actions in the current economic environment.

Camner co-founded the firm Stuzin and Camner (later Camner Lipsitz), where he served as managing director. In 1984 he founded United Savings Association, which he restructured to become the BankUnited Financial Corporation. Over 25 years, he grew the institution into a $15 billion bank, the largest financial institution headquartered in the state of Florida. Camner retired from BankUnited in 2008 and is now a private investor.

Camner and his wife, Anne, share a special connection with UM. Both are alumni, and these ties have been strengthened by their children, all four of whom have earned degrees from their parents’ alma mater. Alfred Camner is a member of the University’s Board of Trustees and its Finance Committee, and is currently serving as chairman of the Trustees’ Library Visiting Committee. In 2005 the Camner Family Foundation established an endowment in support of the Camner Family Academic Resource Center at the University of Miami, which assists learning disabled students. Other areas of the University that have benefited greatly from the Camner family’s support are the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics and the School of Law.

Mitchell Kaplan, M.S.Ed. ’80

University of Miami Libraries Campaign Co-Chair

Mitchell Kaplan is the founder of Books & Books, an independent bookstore located in Coral Gables, Florida that hosts more than 60 events a month, ranging from author readings and signings to demonstrations and workshops.

Following the success of his flagship store, Kaplan went on to open other stores in Miami Beach and Bal Harbour, as well as opening affiliate stores in Ft. Lauderdale and West Hampton Beach, New York. In December 2007 he opened another affiliate in the Cayman Islands, which serves both the visiting and local population of the island with a wide selection of international and Caribbean writing and events.

Kaplan is a co-founder of Miami Book Fair International and serves as the chairman of its board of directors. Additionally, he is a former president of the American Booksellers Association and serves on the board of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.

Like their father, Kaplan’s twin sons are ’Canes. Kaplan has supported the Otto G. Richter Library, the Lowe Art Museum, and the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, to name a few.