Louis Stern Chosen Cjfwf President; George Michelson Chairman of Lcbc

Louis Stern, of South Orange, N. J., prominent investment broker and a key leader in the United Jewish Appeal, was elected president of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds at the 31st General Assembly of the organization, which concluded its four day series of sessions here today. He succeeds Irving Kane of Cleveland, whose three-year term of service expired.

Elected with Mr. Stern at the Assembly’s banquet session were the following vice-presidents: Louis J. Fox, Baltimore; D. Lou Harris, Toronto; Carlos L. Israelis, New York; Benjamin Lazarus, New York; and Judge Theodore Levin, Detroit. Re-elected vice-presidents were: Judge Irving Hill, Los Angeles; I. S. Lowenberg, Chicago; and Lewis H. Veinstein, Boston. Edwin Rosenberg, New York, was elected treasurer; and Sol Satinsky, Philadelphia, was chosen secretary.

George Michelson of Boston was elected chairman of the large City Budgeting Conference at the closing LCBC luncheon of the General Assembly today. He succeeds Louis J. Fox, of Baltimore, who has served in that post since 1959. Mr. Michelson, a building construction engineer, is on the executive committee of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Greater Boston. He is also a member of the board of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds.

STERN SEEKS ‘CREATIVE THINKING’ IN CHANGING WORLD; SHRODER AWARDS PRESENTED

In addressing the General Assembly on “The Federation Commitment in a Changing World,” Mr. Stern told more than 1, 000 delegates at the banquet session that the Jewish federations and welfare funds must be alert to new programs, even if created outside their own agencies. He suggested that federations should reach out to attract and involve, in addition to the “able young business men and lawyers, some of our most imaginative and creative minds–the growing numbers of scholars, writers, scientists and social scientists.”

The creativity which the welfare organizations require, Mr. Stern said, “is needed in every field and area of our work–in the building of a rich new Jewish culture in America; in dealing with the mammoth problem of mental health; in the obligations to go beyond shelter for our aged; in the productive use of our increased leisure; for occupational retraining to meet the impact of automation; for our moral responsibility in the crisis of civil liberties; and for the momentous rehabilitation requirements overseas.”

At the banquet last night, which was held under the chairmanship of Mr. Weinstein, the William J. Shroder Memorial Awards for outstanding social welfare achievements were presented to the Standing Conference on European Jewish Community Services, the Joint Distribution Committee (which helped to organize the European organization), and the Jewish Vocational Service of Chicago.

The presentations were made by William Rosenwald of New York and by Mrs. Stanley Mayersohn, of Albany. The Standing Conference is a new inter-European organization which was initiated two years ago as the culmination of postwar efforts by the JDC to reconstruct European Jewish community life. The Chicago agency was cited for its development of a therapeutic work program for long-term psychiatric patients.