Mel Lipman

Contact Information:
Phone: (702) 433-5210
Fax: (702) 433-1096
E-mail: mlipman@americanhumanist.org

AHA President, Mel Lipman hails from Las Vegas where he's lived for the last 25 years. Raised in New York City by immigrant parents, Mel first began supporting his family at age 14. Mel was raised Jewish and although married to an atheist, didn’t question his faith until one of his two children asked if he believed in God. He soon became involved in the freethought movement.

A lawyer, a chartered bank auditor and a former supervising examiner for the Federal Reserve Board, Lipman brings business savvy to the world of Humanism. He is a former board member of the Nevada Civil Liberties Union and remains active in many ACLU efforts. A Humanist celebrant, Lipman is a member of the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada and frequently lectures on church-state issues.

Lipman is also a founding member of the Humanist Association of Las Vegas and Southern Nevada (AHA's first membership chapter and AHA's 2003 Chapter of the Year), has served as its president for four years, and is now vice-president and media spokesperson for the group. As a prominent leader in the chapter, and now as president of AHA and executive committee member of The Humanist Institute, Mel welcomes the opportunity to clarify the Humanist perspective. He frequently uses letters to the editor and participation in talk shows as means of voicing his advocacy for the community of reason. In a Las Vegas Review-Journal article, Lipman asserts; "My biggest concern is to counter the propaganda from people who think that people who don't believe in a supernatural being can't live moral, ethical lives."

Mel Lipman's top priority is to change people's attitudes about Humanists. "It is not OK to discriminate against somebody simply because they do not believe in God." Though retired from full-time legal practice, he works as an arbitrator and mediator while teaching constitutional law and U.S. History at Nevada State College and at the Nevada campus of the University of Phoenix.