Private family services were held today for Dr. Leon L. Watters, scientist, teacher and historian of Judaism, who died Monday at the age of 89. The rites were held at the Watters home, with Dr. Julius Mark of Temple Emanu-El officiating.
He was a former president of the Jewish Welfare Board of New York, a former vice-president of the Hebrew Technical Institute, and a former treasurer of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association. In 1962 he was recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the University of Utah, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree. He set up several scholarships and student loan funds at the University.
He combined his interest in Judaism and his love for his native Utah in a book, “Pioneer Jews of Utah,” which was published in 1952 by the American Jewish Historical Society. The book received an award from the Jewish Book Council. In 1934, at the suggestion of leading scientists who were personal friends, including the late Albert Einstein, he set up a laboratory for atomic research at the California Institute of Technology.
Dr. Watters developed the sterile catgut uniformly used in medical work while he was on the staff of Bellvue Hospital. During World War I, he designed and built the first portable disinfectors for the Army and Navy and in World War II, he designed a mobile hospital unit used by the British in North Africa.
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.
