Harry L. Shapiro, formerly executive director of the American Zionist Emergency Council, has been elected executive vice-chairman of the United Palestine Appeal, it was announced here today by Herman L. Weisman, U.P.A. acting national chairman. He succeeds Henry Montor, whose resignation was recently accepted.
“The election of Mr. Shapiro to the post,” Weisman said, “places the United Palestine Appeal in the position to move ahead in planning for the 1949 United Jewish Appeal campaign of which the U.P.A. and the Joint Distribution Committee are the major beneficiary agencies.”
Weisman said he was “confident” that the U.P.A. under Shapiro’s direction “would be equipped and ready to meet the urgent call from Israel to rally American Jewry’s effective participation in its immigration program.” He added: “I am certain that Mr. Shapiro’s extensive background in fund-raising procedure and techniques coupled with his intimate familiarity with the whole field will insure an energetic and productive campaign worthy of Israel’s great responsibilities. I know that Mr. Shapiro is held in the highest esteem by a great number of the top community directors of fund-raising, for his competence, experience and general reputation in the field.”
At the same time, Shapiro declared that he is assuming the duties of his new position with the “firm conviction that the many devoted and hardworking community leaders throughout the country who have ensured the success of United Jewish Appeal campaigns will once again give evidence of that unity, selflessness and zeal without which the enormous tasks ahead cannot be accomplished.
“I look forward,” Shapiro continued, “to an association with the staffs of the United Palestine Appeal and the United Jewish Appeal, the members of their governing bodies and the tireless workers and contributors in the various communities throughout the nation, which, I am certain, will be marked by comradeship and close cooperation in meeting the challenge before me.”
Shapiro is a graduate of Ohio State University and is a veteran of World War I, He served as a regional field director of the United Jewish Appeal from 1939 to 1943. Prior to joining the U.J.A.’s national staff, ho was with the New York City campaign of the Joint Distribution Committee.
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.
