Founders of the Jewish Welfare Fund of Metropolitan Chicago Honored

Raymond Epstein, president of the Jewish Welfare Fund of Metropolitan Chicago and vice-president of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, paid tribute to the men who created the Fund 36 years ago and developed it into a powerful institution aiding Jews in this country and abroad. Epstein presided over a special meeting honoring the founders of the Fund and commemorating Holocaust Day.

He reported that since 1936, when the Fund came into existence, through 1971 the Fund appropriated over $140 million including $113,315,000 for overseas needs, chiefly for the United Jewish Appeal; $15 million for Jewish education; $6,660,000 for national Jewish organizations; and more than $1 million for resettlement of Jewish refugees in Chicago.

James P. Rice, executive director of the Fund, praised Samuel Goldsmith for his work overseas as Joint Distribution Committee country director and executive director of United HIAS Service. Goldsmith retired in 1966 as the executive director of the Fund and Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. Referring to the men being honored and to the work of the Fund, Rice said: “There are times, and places, and people we must remember. Because on this 36th anniversary of the Jewish Welfare Fund of Metropolitan Chicago, the twice ‘chai’ anniversary, and on the eve of Holocaust Day, we must not forget.”