Harry J. Gell, former representative of the Joint Distribution Committee in Europe, who helped to establish Jewish credit cooperatives in Czechoslovakia and Poland after World War I, and later became an executive of the 20th Century-Fox, died here last night after a brief illness. He was 75 years old.
Mr. Gell, who was a brother of Mrs. Rose Jacobs, former national president of Hadassah, also held various posts in the Federal Government. He was graduated from City College with an A.B. degree in 1911 and worked on the conciliation staff of the cloak and suit industry here before receiving his first Federal post. As a special agent for the Department of Commerce he took part in the investigation of production costs of manufacturing concerns doing business with the Government. After that he was attached to the United States Tariff Commission.
In World War I Mr. Gell was employed by the War Production Board in the negotiation of labor contracts for war plants. In World War II he served the Treasury Department in the liquidation of enemy alien assets. Mr. Gell was decorated by the late King Alexander I of Yugoslavia with the Order of Sava for his cultural contributions to that country.
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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.
