Funeral services were held yesterday afternoon from his late residence for Pincus Rongy, Zionist pioneer, and father of Dr. A. J. Rongy, prominent physician and Zionist.
Mr. Rongy, who was seventy-five years old, succumbed to an illness of six months. The last rites were conducted from his home in Brooklyn by his nephew Rabbi Shachna Stein. Interment took place in the Baron de Hirsch cemetery.
He was one of the last two survivors in this country of the Chovevei Zion, founded in Odessa, Russia in 1882.
Mr. Rongy was a member of a prominent Russian Jewish family. His father, Abraham Rongy, an engineer, designed and supervised the first bridge over the Volga River in 1865.
Pincus Rongy came to the United States in 1888 after Russia had prohibited Jews from trading with the government and confined them to restricted areas, following the assassination of Czar Alexander II in 1881.
He was active in apartment house building in Brooklyn, the East Side and Harlem.
Mr. Rongy was active in philanthropic work in this city. He was one of the founders of the Brownsville and East New York Hospital, which is now known as Beth-El. He also helped to organize the Jewish Maternity Hospital.
At the time of his death he was a member of the Zionist Organization of America, the Hebrew Day Nursery and the Lebanon Hospital.
In addition to his son, he is survived by his second wife and two daughters, Mrs. Jacob Heller and Miss Bessie Rongy.
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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.