Bernard Semel (November 17, 1878 – June 30, 1959) was a Galician-born Jewish-American merchant and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

from

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Life

Semel was born on November 17, 1878, in Bolechów, Galicia,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, the son of Abraham Leib Semel and Goldie Horowitz. Semel immigrated to America when he was twelve. While studying in evening courses in

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, he began working in commerce. He eventually became an important cotton merchant. An active

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from an early age, he was appointed an executive committee member of the

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in 1909. Interested in helping Jews from Galicia, he served as comptroller of the Federation of Galician and Bucovinian Jews of America and as president of the Federation from 1906 to 1913. In 1914, he and Judah L. Magnes founded the Yiddish daily newspaper ''

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''. In 1917, Mayor

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appointed him a member of the Committee on Unemployment. In 1918, he helped organize the Jewish Education Association and became its honorary secretary, board member, and secretary. Semel's established the company Bernard Semel, Inc. in 1900. He was president of the company, which was wholesalers and exporters of textiles. Semel was an executive committee of the Jewish Welfare Board, a trustee of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York, acting chairman of the Kehillah of New York in 1909, a member of the

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and the

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, and a trustee of the

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. In 1904, Semel married Sadie Miller. Their children were Herbert, Goldie (who married Stanley Sogg), Henrietta (who married Frank Gindoff), and Joseph. Semel died at his summer home in Atlantic Beach on June 30, 1959.

References

1878 births 1959 deaths Emigrants from Austria-Hungary to the United States People from the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) 19th-century American Jews 20th-century American Jews American philanthropists American merchants 20th-century American businesspeople Businesspeople from New York City American company founders American chief executives People from Atlantic Beach, New York {{DEFAULTSORT:Semel, Bernard American Zionists