Crowds variously estimated from 150,000 to a half million Jammed the streets of the lower East Side today to pay last respects to B.C. Vladeck in a demonstration of mourning that recalled the turnout for Meyer London, Socialist Congressman and labor leader, in 1926.
Only 900 persons could be accommodated in the auditorium of the Jewish Daily Forward building for the non-religious service to hear Governor Lehman characterize Mr. Vladeck as a “liberal, broad-minded, great leader, a great Jew and a great American,” and other notables from many walks of life eulogize him for his services — Mayor Laguardia, Sholem Asch, Norman Thomas, David Dubinsky and Alex Rose among them.
Some 25,000 clustered outside the auditorium, and by the time the casket was carried out into the street, thousands upon thousands lined the sidewalks. Thirty thousand marched in the procession, including the Governor and Mayor, Comptroller Joseph D. McGoldrick, senator Wagner and the entire City Council. Burial was in Mt. Carmel Cemetery, Brooklyn. Some 20,000 persons had viewed Mr. Vladeck’s body as it lay in state in the auditorium before the funeral.
A memorial service was held in the offices of the Joint distribution Committee, of which Mr. Vladeck was a director, conducted by Isidore Coons, campaign director, and Pauline Baerwald falk, chairman of the J.D.C.’s Junior division. Statements of tribute continued to be issued, one of the latest being from B’nai B’rith, which sent a committee to attend the funeral.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
