Mrs. Roger Straus Gives $1, 000, 000 to Conference of Christians and Jews

In a memorial to her late husband, Mrs. Roger W. Straus announced today a gift of $1, 000, 000 to the Roger Williams Straus Memorial Foundation to promote the objectives of the National Conference of Christians and Jews and the World Brotherhood organization. The announcement was made at a press conference at the Foundation’s offices here.

Secretary of State John Foster Dulles will serve as honorary chairman of the trustees of the foundation, and former Governor Thomas E Dewey as chairman. The other trustees are Mrs. Straus; Arthur Hays. Salzburger, publisher of the New York Times; Devereux C Josephs, board chairman of New York Life Insurance Co, Dr. Arthur H. Compton, Nobel Prize winning physicist; John F. Brosnan, Chancellor of the New York Board of Regents; Oscar S. Straus, of the American Smelting and Refining Company, and Dr. Everett R. Clinchy, president of the NCCJ. who will serve as executive director and vice-president. Mrs. Straus will serve as president of the Foundation.

Mrs. Straus stated that the purposes of the gift are to promote religious liberty, to build understanding and civic cooperation among the world’s great religions; to foster research into the roots of prejudice, and to further universal peace and brotherhood among the peoples of all nations of the world.

Roger W. Straus was a founder of the NCCJ in 1928 and served continuously as the Jewish national co-chairman until his death last July. In 1950, he participated in the founding of the World Brotherhood organization at an international meeting held in Paris.

This is the largest gift for these purposes by an individual in the 29-year history of the NCCJ and the seven-year history of World Brotherhood. In 1951, the NCCJ received a $1, 000, 000 gift from the Ford Motor Company Fund for the purchase of its present national headquarters.