Funeral services will be held tomorrow for Jacob M. Gery, a pioneer immigrant from South Africa, who served as Minister of Commerce and Industry during the Premiership of the late David Ben Gurion. Gery, who died here last night at the age of 73, was born in Lithuania and raised in South Africa where he earned a law degree.
He arrived in Palestine in 1934, one of the first immigrants from South Africa. He worked in orange groves and later joined the law firm of the late Dr. Dov Joseph, Israel’s first Minister of Supply and Rationing. In 1950, Gery was invited by Premier Ben Gurion to join his Cabinet as a nonpartisan member. He subsequently returned to the practice of law and headed the Africa-Israel Investment Corporation.
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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.