Jacobson Elected JNF President

Charlotte Jacobson, a leading American Zionist, has been elected president of the Jewish National Fund, succeeding Rabbi William Berkowitz. She is the first woman to head the 80-year-old Zionist afforestation and land development agency. Prior to her election by the JNF Board of Directors at its biennial meeting here, Mrs. Jacobson was chairman of the World Zionist Organization-American Section. Her two-year term in office as JNF leader begins immediately.

A native of New York City, Mrs. Jacobson has been active in Zionist activities for more than 30 years in various posts in numerous organizations. In Hadassah, she was its national vice president and national treasurer before serving as president from 1964 to 1968. She served as chairman of the Medical Building and Development Campaign until 1976 and was responsible for the rebuilding of the Hadassah Hospital on Mt. Scopus after the Six-Day War.

She was elected to the Jewish Agency Executive in 1968 and is a member of the Board of Governors of the reconstituted Jewish Agency for Israel. As chairman of its Commission on Higher Education, Mrs. Jacobson supervises its allocations for the seven institutions of higher learning in Israel that it supports. In 1970 she was co-chairman of a committee that resulted in the founding of the American Zionist Federation. She also served on the committee for the reorganization of the Jewish Agency.

She has visited many countries in her capacity as a Zionist leader and as an expert in international health and social development programs.

Her visits included the Soviet Union in 1966 where she led a special Hadassah mission to study at first hand the condition of Jews there; Egypt, where she led a group to survey medical and social services; and the People’s Republic of China in 1979 to survey that country’s social and medical programs.