Ellis Radinsky, executive director of the United Israel Appeal and assistant executive vice-chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, died early this morning of a heart attack at his country home in Mahopac, N. Y. He was 51 years old and had been recently appointed to the post in the UJA.
Mr. Radinsky, who had been closely associated with Jewish causes and particularly Israel for almost 20 years, had visited Israel last in October, 1954, with the 35-member UJA study mission. A native of New York, he was educated at New York University and the New York School of Social Work of Columbia University.
He had been executive director of the UIA since 1949. Prior to that he was director of community contacts for the United Palestine Appeal, predecessor of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds. Earlier he had been executive director of the League for Labor Palestine.
Mr. Radinsky was a Labor Zionist member most of his youth and adult life and was one of the founders of Young Judea, which he supervised from 1923 to 1930. From 1934 to 1942 he was a social worker in the New York Department of Welfare.
In a joint statement mourning the death of Mr. Radinksy, William Rosenwald, general chairman, and Joseph J. Schwartz, executive vice chairman, respectively, of the United Jewish Appeal, declared: “In his sudden death the American Jewish community has lost one of its most able and devoted servants and the people of Israel and distressed Jews overseas have lost a splendid and untiring champion who made their welfare his life’s work.”
Dewey D. Stone, national chairman of the UIA, declared; “We deeply mourn the loss of one of our most devoted workers for the cause of Israel. Ellis Radinsky literally gave his life for those efforts which would help Israel fulfill the Zionist ideal of Jewish freedom and dignity in a land for the Jewish people. He was a tireless worker, a man of personal courage, a good friend who could be counted on, on every occasion, to do the job that was necessary.”
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.
