Isaac Naiditch, prominent Zionist leader and one of the founders of the Keren Hayesod, who resided in the United States since 1942, died here today at the Hotel Maurice. He was one of the most intimate friends of President Chaim Weizmann of Israel.
Born in Pinsk, Russia, in 1868, Mr. Naiditch was connected with the Zionist movement since he was 21. In 1907 he visited Palestine. Between 1913 and 1927 he served as a member of the executive of the World Zionist Organization. He was instrumental in obtaining support for the Ruttenberg electrification project in Palestine and was interested in exploitation of the natural resources of the Dead Sea. He also helped to establish an agricultural bank in Palestine.
As far back as 1889, eight years before the first World Zionist Congress was convened, Mr. Naiditch, together with M.M. Ussishkin, the late head of the Jewish National Fund, founded the Some of Zion Society in Moscow where he was residing at that time. A student of modern Hebrew literature, he started writing Hebrew poetry and essays at the age of 18.
One of the wealthiest industrialists in Russia, he lost his fortune there after the Communist regime came to power. He moved to France in 1920 where he established alcohol and sugar factories and built up another fortune which he lost when France fell to the Nazis. Upon his arrival in the United States in 1942, he settled in New York and took an active interest in the Zionist movement in this 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.
