Funeral services were held today for Sidney Leiwant, honorary president and immediate past president of the American ORT Federation, at Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange. He died yesterday at the age of 71.
Born in Austria, Leiwant was brought to the United States as a child by his parents and spent his formative years in Connecticut. He graduated from the University of Alabama in 1934. He subsequently settled in Verona, N.J.
Leiwant was active in all phases of Jewish communal life. He was active in the American ORT Federation for more than a decade where he also served as vice president of its central board. He also served on the executive committee of the World ORT Union, to which he was a delegate.
Leiwant was a member of the National Cabinet of the United Jewish Appeal; a trustee of the United Israel Appeal; former chairman of Council of Jewish Federations’ Large City Budgeting Conference; a member of the Board and executive committee of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee; and a member of the Board and executive committee of HIAS.
In addition, Leiwant was a president of the Jewish Education Association of Metropolitan New Jersey; president of the Jewish Community Federation of Metrowest (formerly Metropolitan New Jersey); general chairman of the UJA of Metrowest; Board member of The Jewish News and the Federation Community Relations Committee.
He was also president of Temple Israel of the Oranges and Maplewood; vice president and Board member of the United Way of Essex County; and a member of the Boards of the Jewish Counseling and Service Agency and the Hebrew Youth Academy.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
