Eleven men who have made significant contributions in the field of Jewish migration during the past eight decades were honored tonight in the Essex House Hotel at the 80th Anniversary Dinner of United Hias Service. The event was held in behalf of the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York.
More than 250 Jewish community leaders attended the dinner and announced gifts totaling $750, 000 to UJA’s 1964 campaign. United Hias Service is a beneficiary of the UJA campaign. The honored guests, four of whom were saluted posthumously, were cited by Daniel G. Ross, the dinner chairman, for providing the “unswerving leadership that enabled United Hias Service and its predecessor agencies to aid more than 3, 000, 000 migrants over the past 80 years.”
Murray I. Gurfein, president of United Hias Service, told the gathering that: “the pressures that have driven millions of Jewish persons to flee their native lands throughout the 80 years of pogroms, wars and revolutions that have shaken the world and uprooted virtually entire Jewish communities are still prevalent today. The calls for migration assistance are as desperately urgent today as they have been during the past 80 years. The need for agencies like United Hias Service to remain on the scene continues with no end in sight.”
The president and past presidents of United Hias Service, the presidents of its predecessor agencies and the chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee were those honored at the dinner. The predecessor agencies are the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), founded in 1884, the United Service for New Americans (USNA), and the migration services of the JDC.
Those cited were: the late John L. Bernstein, a president of the former Hias; Walter H. Bieringer, a president of the former USNA; the late Abner Bregman, a past president of United Hias Service; Mr. Gurfein; the late Abraham Herman, a president of the former Hias, Carlos L. Israels, a past president of United Hias Service; Ben Touster, a president of the former Hias and a past president of United Hias Service, and Edward M.M. Warburg, chairman of the JDC; Edwin Rosenberg, a president of the former USNA; William Rosenwald, president of the former National Refugee Service, a predecessor of USNA; and the late Samuel Telsey, a president of the former Hias.
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