Roger Berkowitz ’74

Roger S. Berkowitz ’74 started working in his family’s fish market in Cambridge when he was 10 years old. Through the years, he learned all aspects of the business, working as a fry cook, restaurant manager, marketing professional, and industry innovator. Today Berkowitz is President and CEO of Legal Sea Foods.

Under his leadership, Legal Sea Foods has grown into a restaurant group known for its fanaticism for quality and freshness, operating more than 30 restaurants in 10 states, plus an online fish market and retail product line. The company is often cited for its industry-leading efforts in the field of food safety and nutrition, and its restaurants have won numerous awards and accolades, including being named “Boston’s Most Popular Restaurant” by Zagat for the past seven years running. Bon Appétit listed a meal at Legal Sea Foods as among America’s “Top Ten Tried-and-True” dining experiences.

Berkowitz is a frequent guest on television news shows, offering expert opinion about the fishing industry. The co-author of The New Legal Sea Foods Cookbook, he has been a guest speaker at colleges and institutions, discussing the fishing industry and restaurant management. Among his many honors, he was named a James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Restaurateur in 2009, and is an inductee in the Nation’s Restaurant News Menu Masters Hall of Fame.

A graduate of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a bachelor’s degree in television and radio, Berkowitz attended executive education programs at Harvard Business School, the University of London School of Business, and Stanford Graduate School of Business. He holds honorary degrees from The Culinary Institute of America, Johnson & Wales University, Newbury College, and Salem State University.

Berkowitz is a member and past president of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association and serves on the leadership council at the Harvard School of Public Health. He is an appointee on the New England Community Development Advisory Council for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and, since 2004, has served on the Regional Selection Panel for the President’s Commission of White House Fellowships. He also serves on boards for many non-profits, including the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children’s Hospital Boston.