J. D. B. News Letter

Leonard L. Cohen, vice-president of the Jewish Colonization Association, as was foreshadowed by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, has been unanimously elected president of the Ica, by the Administrative Council of the Ica, which has been meeting here, succeeding the late M. Franz Philippson, who died early in July.

Professor Salomon Reinach was also unanimously elected by the Council as vice-president of the Ica in succession to Mr. Cohen. M. Max Gottschalk has been appointed by the Brussels Jewish Community as its representative on the Ica Council, in succession to the late M. Franz Philippson. The new president, Leonard L. Cohen, paid a tribute to the memory of the late Louis Marshall.

At the general meeting of the Ica, over which he presided, Mr. Cohen paid a tribute to the memory of the late M. Franz Philippson.

Mr. Cohen spoke of the prosperity of their colonies in the Argentine, the vitality of their agricultural groups in Brazil, Canada, Palestine, and Poland, and of the hopes which have been realized in respect of the new Jewish colonization in Russia. He also referred to the success achieved by their credit work, thanks to the Joint-Ica-Foundation, and also to the great progress made in their emigration work, with the assistance of the Hicem.

Leonard Lionel Cohen, the new president of the Ica. is widely known and popular in London Jewry through his long association with the Jewish Board of Guardians, to which he has given over forty years of continuous service, acting as its president for twenty years, from 1900 to 1920.

He was born in London on April 17, 1858, son of the late Lionel Louis Cohen, M.P., also a former president of the Jewish Board of Guardians, whose “Scheme for the Better Management of All the Jewish Poor” practically formed the Constitution of the Board, and a leading figure in the formation of the United Synagogue, presiding over the first meeting of its Council.

Mr. Cohen joined his father’s firm, Louis Cohen & Sons, foreign bankers, which was founded by his grandfather, the late Louis Cohen. He was a member of the Committee of the Stock Exchange, and a director of a number of railway companies. On retiring from business in 1895, he devoted most of his Ieisure to charitable work, principally in the Jewish Community. He is a member of the Council of the Anglo-Jewish Association, which he represents on the Joint Foreign Committee. He was one of the founders of the League of British Jews. He is not a Zionist, but he is a member of the Economic Board for Palestine.