Lucius N. Littauer, philanthropist and former Congressman, was elected president and treasurer of the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation, which he established with a gift of $1,000,000 for “better understanding among all mankind.” The directors of the Foundation, selected by Mr. Littauer, at their first meeting held on Sunday at Mr. Littauer’s home, 64 West Eighty-seventh Street, New York, on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. A family dinner was held last evening in honor of the septuagenarian.
Harry Starr, counsel to Mr. Littauer, was elected secretary of the Foundation, which was incorporated last week under the laws of New York.
In describing the Foundation and Mr. Littauer’s aims in establishing it, Mr. Starr declared,
“Mr. Littauer in his philanthropic activities approximates the benevolent spirit of the historic Jewish Nagidim, in his appreciation and encouragement of intellectual and spiritual activities as well as the purely charitable activities. His mind is as ready to conceive the utility of an abstraction like a chair at a university to develop Jewish learning, as a wing for a hospital or an institution erected in brick and stone, as the Nathan Littauer Professorship of Jewish education which he created at Harsard several years ago, the first of its kind in any American University and probably in the world. His purpose therein was to link up all aspects of Jewish Civilization and culture with the world’s civilization in general and to create a precedent by which learning might become a duly recognized aspect of University work.
“The creation by Mr. Littauer of a corporation through which to distribute his benefactions in the future is the first instance in which he has attempted to carry out his philanthropic impulses in a formal fashion. Perhaps it has been noteworthy and indicative of his character that all of his charitable work heretofore has been carried (##) in an intensely personal and intimate fashion, and one of his most earnest injunction to the directors of this foundation is that they should continue to carry on the foundation’s benevolent activities in the same personal and unostentatious fashion. He has sever required formal application for assistance of any kind; his doors are always open to any one in search of aid, for private or public calls, and in his simple office, he has with deep concern and sincere interest listened as eagerly to young boys and girls asking for assistance in obtaining an education as to representatives of a large charitable institution. It has never been his custom to sign checks merely to be (##)id of importunities; every request for his assistance has been thoughtfully considered by him personally and the decision made by him only after a thorough consideration of its merits. (Continued on Page 4)
He has refused many invitations to join boards of directors of institutions only because he has felt that he could not accept honorary positions merely because he had given money, and did not feel it proper to give his name to any organization unless with it he could give his time and his attention. For this reason he is with all his many benefactions, a member of comparatively few controlling bodies of institutions Among these are the visiting committees of Semitic Language and the Semitic Museum at Harvard University and the Board of Governors of the Inter-Collegiate Menorah Association.
“It is interesting to know that in conformity with the spirit expressed in his letter of giit, ‘The promotion of better understanding among al mankind,’ the Board of Directors of the Lucius N. Littauer Foundation contains in addition to Mr. Littauer himself, two Jewish members and two non-Jewish members. The Jewish members are Dr. Jesse G. M. Bullowa who has been Mr. Littauer’s personal physician for many years and has been actively in charge of the pneumonia research which Mr. Littaner has subsidized under the general auspices of New York University and Mr. Harry Starr, who is Mr. Littauer’s personal counsel, and organized the foundation Mr. Starr who will be Secretary of the foundation is also president of the Inter-Collegiate Menorah Association, and a member of its Board of Governors. The non-Jewish members are, Mr. Alfred Saunders of Gloversville. New York, one of Mr. Littauer’s oldest friends and President of the Nathan Littauer Hospital at Gloversville, established and maintained by Mr. Littauer in memory of his father; and harry MacNeil Mayor of Fonda. New York an intimate business associate of Mr. Littauer,” Mr. Starr stated.
A gift of $1,000 by Lessing J. Rosenwald. director of the Federation of Jewish Charities to the Jewish Educational Centers of Social Philadelphia will enable these centers to run a forum every Sunday evening. The programs will consist of a series of recitals and lectures on Jewish music, drama, plastic art, dance poetry, humor, moving pictures, literary criticism, as well as education, communal life journalism, religion and Zionism.
The forum will be under the direction of the Parents’ Associations of these centers. Locius E. Levinthal is president of the Associated Talmud Torahs, and Ben Rosen is executive director.
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.
