Edward A. Norman, 55, president and founder of the American Fund for Israel Institutions, died in New Canaan, Conn. today. An eminent New York philanthropist, Mr. Norman was also president and founder of the Group Farming Research Institute, secretary of the American Jewish Committee, trustee of Mt. Sinai Hospital, member of the board of directors of the American Friends of the Hebrew University and a member of the board of the Palestine Economic Corporation.
Born in Chicago, Mr. Norman was a graduate of Harvard University and served as a Lieutenant Commander in the United States Navy during World War II. Mr. Norman’s most active interest was with the American Fund for Israel Institutions, which he founded in 1941 in support of many of the leading educational and cultural organizations in Israel. He was president since its founding.
During several trips to Palestine in the early ’30’s, Mr. Norman became interested in Jewish settlements in that country and particularly in a number of cultural and educational institutions. In the U.S. he joined several committees organized on behalf of these institutions. Concerned with the many separate campaigns then being conducted in behalf of Palestine institutions, he began, during 1939 and 1940, to enlist the aid of a number of eminent civic leaders to found a single, federated agency for all these institutions. As a result the American Fund was organized in 1941 and Mr. Norman was elected president.
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