Dr. Joseph Kott, former chairman of the executive committee of the Red Magen David in Israel who had a leading part in planning and directing the group’s activities in Israel for more than two decades, died last Wednesday in Tel Aviv, it was reported here today by the American Red Magen David for Israel.
Dr. Kott was born in Lithuania and studied medicine in Russia and Germany. He was an active Zionist and settled in Palestine in 1925 at the age of 27. He worked as a medical doctor in Upper Galilee and in the Jordan Valley on behalf of Kupat Holim, the Histadrut sick fund and also served as physician at the Palestine Electric, Co. hydro-electric station at Naharayim.
In 1936 Dr. Kott headed the medical service of Hagana while continuing to practice medicine in Tel Aviv and nearby kibbutzim and villages. Dr. Kott joined the Magen David Adom in 1933 and helped establish first aid training centers and preventive medicine programs. He headed the MDA’s executive committee from 1950 until his retirement this year.
Dr. Kott carried out a medical rehabilitation mission for the Jewish Agency in Europe after World War II among survivors of the Holocaust in 1954, the Education Ministry sent him to Europe to study public health services in several countries. Since 1962 he had served as director of the Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba.
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.
