Komisar was born in
Brooklyn, New York. He received a bachelor's degree in economics from
New York University in 1957, master's and Ph.D degrees in economics from
Columbia University in 1959 and 1968, respectively. His dissertation committee included two winners of the
Nobel Prize in economics,
Gary Becker and
Jacob Mincer. He began at the
City College of New York in 1959 and moved to
Hamilton College in 1961. In 1966, he joined
Binghamton University, where he held a number of faculty and administrative positions, most notably acting Chancellor in 1987 and 1988. In 1990, he assumed the Presidency of the
University of Alaska system, serving in that role for eight years. ==Selected publications==