Joseph J. Schwartz, Communal Leader in U.s., Abroad, Dead at Age 75

Joseph J, Schwartz, a leader in numerous Jewish communal organizations in this country and abroad, died here today at the age of 75. Funeral services will be tomorrow at the Riverside Chapel. Born in Russia, he came to this country and was ordained a rabbi in 1923.

Mr. Schwartz was a leader in the Joint Distribution Committee, the United Jewish Appeal, and the Israel Bond Organization. He was JDC secretary from 1939-40, chairman of the European Executive Council from 1940-49, and director general from 1950-51. He was also the executive vice-chairman of the UJA from 1951-55, and was vice-president and chief executive officer of the Israel Bond Organization from 1955-70.

He was a member of the first and second Jerusalem Economic Conference, member of the Intergovernmental Commission on Refugees on conditions of DPs in the American Zone in Germany, president of the Encyclopaedia Judaica Research Foundation, president of the National Conference on Jewish Social Welfare and a member of the board of governors of the Jewish Academy of Arts and Sciences.

During his many years of communal service he was the recipient of many awards, including the Mordechai Ben David Award of Yeshiva University, (1946), French Legion of Honor Chevaller Award (1947), Stephen Wise Award (1950), and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem Scopus Award (1964).

Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress, Claims Conference and of the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, expressed grief at the death of “my old and dear friend,” He appreciated Mr, Schwartz “not only for the wonderful work done for so many years in so many spheres of Jewish life, but primarily for his decency, his exemplary loyalty and devotion to everything Jewish, and his warmth as a friend and human being.”