Leader of Jewish Life in Philadelphia Passes Away at 50 Years (Jewish Daily Bulletin)
Funeral services will be held today, Thursday, at 2 P. M. for W. Fleisher, prominent Jewish philanthropist, who died Tuesday following an operation at the Jewish Hospital. Three blood transfusions proved ineffective. Mr. Fleisher was fifty years old, and is survived by his widow, two sons and a daughter.
A member of one of the most influential Jewish families in this city, noted alike for its humanitarian and artistic contributions, his benefactions were not limited to members of his own faith. One of the largest individual donors to the Federation of Jewish Charities, the extent of his private benefactions annually, particularly among the families of prisoners, ran into thousands of dollars.
The President of the Board of Directors of the Eastern Penetentiary, for the past five years, he made a contribution to prison reform now widely recognized in penal institutions throughout the country. With his own funds he established prison shops where penal inmates were enabled to manufacture articles, the proceeds of which enabled them to get a new start on life when their terms expired or contributed to the expenses of their families.
Together with the late Stanley Mastbaum, he founded the real estate firm of Mastbaum Brothers and Fleisher. He was one of the most intimate friends of the late Jules E. Mastbaum by whose death he was profoundly affected, and in whose memory two years ago he gave the largest individual subscription to the Federation of Jewish Charities.
The deceased was related to Samuel Fleisher, head of the Graphic Sketch Club and winner of the Bok award, and Arthur A. Fleisher, President of the Jewish Hospital.
Mr. Fleisher was a discerning patron of the arts and his collection of etchings is considered among the finest in the country.
Among his Clubs were the Philmont Country Club, the Locust, Penn. Athletic, Manufacturers’, Masons and Elks.
He was a member of Congregation Keneseth Israel.
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