Mrs. Rebekah Kohut, noted author and Jewish social worker, was honored last night on the completion of fifty years of social work in New York with a dinner at the Hotel Commodore addressed by Mayor LaGuardia, Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, Henry Morgenthau Sr. and others. More than 800 persons were present.
Felix M. Warburg presented Mrs. Kohut with a check for $10,000, the first installment of a $50,000 fund being raised by a committee headed by Fannie Hurst, for distribution among Mrs. Kohut’s favorite charities.
Declaring that Mrs. Kohut contributed to social work “the conception that all approached must be fundamentally moral approaches,” Miss Perkins asserted:
“Her thinking was that of a great moral teacher, and in our task of dealing with the problem of providing work and income to persons in need today we find that our approach must be fundamentally a moral one.”
Former Mayor John B. O’Brien, predecessor and election opponent to Mayor LaGuardia was among the diners. Mr. LaGuardia saw him and declared: “Judge O’Brien will join me, I am sure, when I express the gratitude of the city to Mrs. Kohut for the work she has done here. She was one of the first to put science and intelligence into philanthropy.”
Mrs. Kohut gave a brief review of her fifty years in social work. Other speakers were: Dr. Charles C. Torrey of Yale University, Mrs. Felix M. Warburg, Miss Anne Morgan, Miss Helen Hall, Mrs. Arthur Brin and Dr. Stephen S. Wise.
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