(1893-1980)
American Zionist leader. He was born in Libau, Latvia, and was taken to the US as an infant. He founded the youth movement Young Judea in 1909, and served as education director of the Zionist Organization of America. He subsequently was director of the Keren ha-Yesod in the US (1921-5) and chairman of the executive committee of the United Palestine Appeal (1925-8). In 1929-30 he was president of the Jewish National Fund in the US; he then moved to Palestine, where he worked for the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem (1931-41). He was also president of the Zionist Organization of America (1947-8, 1956-8). In 1954 he founded the Herzl Foundation and served as its president. He was elected president of the World Union of General Zionists in 1963.
Dictionary of Jewish Biography. Dan Cohn-Sherbok.