The 41st General Assembly banquet of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds ended tragically last night when Louis Stern, past president of the CJF and for decades a leader in communal affairs, died of a heart attack shortly after collapsing onstage behind the podium in the middle of an address before more than 2000 delegates and guests. Mr. Stern, 68, was rushed to St. Michael’s Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.
The remainder of the banquet session was cancelled a few minutes after Mr. Stern collapsed. The sessions scheduled for today continued but the plenary session and a CJF Board meeting in the morning was cancelled in order to hold a memorial service at the Royal York Hotel where the five-day Assembly had been taking place.
Mr. Stern, of South Orange, N.J., CJF president from 1963-1966, had been presenting the CJF nominations report announcing the new slate of officers and the installation of the new president, Irving Blum of Baltimore. He read a message from President Nixon to Max M. Fisher, outgoing CJF president, and then presented him with a 2000-year old urn unearthed during an archaeological dig in Israel.
As Mr. Stern handed Fisher the urn he suddenly slumped to the floor behind the podium. Most people in the audience were not aware of what happened and thought that the urn had been dropped. Suddenly a group of doctors present in the audience rushed onto the stage and began to administer artificial respiration and heart massage to Mr. Stern.
‘DIED IN A SYMBOLIC WAY’
The police and fire departments rushed oxygen tanks to the banquet hall to help the doctors who were unsuccessful in their efforts to revive Mr. Stern. The banquet hall was cleared and delegates gathered in clusters outside, some of them crying and most of them visibly shaken by the tragic turn of events. Mr. Stern’s wife, Frances, was on the platform with her husband. His brother, Charles, accompanied Mr. Stern to the hospital.
Mr. Stern, born in Newark, was a former president of the National Jewish Welfare Board, a member of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency, and a past president of the Jewish Community Council of Essex County, past president of the YM-YWHA of Essex County, a member of the New York Stock Exchange and the head of a brokerage firm.
Participating in the memorial service were outgoing CJF president Max M. Fisher, executive vice-president Philip Bernstein, and Joseph Kruger, a former president of the Essex County YM-YWHA. Funeral services for Mr. Stern will be Tuesday at Temple Ohav Shalom in South Orange, N.J. Speaking at the memorial service, Fisher said of Mr. Stern that “he died in a symbolic way, bringing new leadership into Jewish communal life. He was a great man and a great Jew, a man of real integrity.”
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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.
