Maximo Yagupsky, founder and director of the American Jewish Committee’s offices in Latin America and Israel, has died.
Yagupsky, who was 90 years old, died Sunday in Buenos Aires.
He was born in Argentina and was a lifelong advocate of improving Jewish relations in Latin America.
In 1948, he established the AJCommittee’s South American headquarters in Buenos Aires, where he served as director for 13 years. He also set up offices in the Brazilian cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
In 1961, he established the AJCommittee’s Israel office in Tel Aviv, where he was director for seven years.
While with the AJCommittee, Yagupsky founded several periodicals, the Spanish Commentario in Argentina, the Portuguese Commentario in Brazil and the Hebrew Ammot in Israel, all distinguished for their cultural and literary content as well as their world and Jewish affairs articles.
“He was a man with charisma and a wonderful professor. He was a real scholar,” said Jacob Kovadloff, consultant for Latin American affairs for the AJCommittee.
Yagupsky also served as the general director of all Jewish parochial schools in Argentina and as vice president of the Sociedad Hebraica Argentina.
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