Robert Schrayer, 75, a prominent Jewish community leader in Chicago and nationally, died Thursday.
Schrayer served two stints as the chairman of the board of directors of the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, once from 1979-1981 and again in 1998. He was also the chairman of the JUF’s Jewish Community Relations Council from 1981-1984.
Nationally, he chaired the annual campaign of the United Jewish Communities, the national arm of the Jewish federation system, in 2001 and 2002. He also chaired the UJC’s 2003 Israel Emergency Campaign to help Israel cope with the second intifada.
Shrayer was a board member of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
“I learned of the passing of Robert Schrayer with a profound sense of loss and sorrow,” Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Sallai Meridor, said. “He was a close personal friend and a great supporter of the State of Israel. Robert’s work with the United Jewish Communities and the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago will live on long after his untimely and unfortunate death.”
