MEYER W. WEISGAL (1894-1977) Meyer Weisgal was born in Poland in 1894, and brought to the United States by his parents at the age of eleven. He was educated in New York City public schools and Columbia University, where he studied journalism. His association with the Zionist Organization of America began in 1915 and continued until 1930. During this period, he edited The Maccabean, which he subsequently converted into The New Palestine. Under his editorship, The New Palestine became the outstanding Jewish publication in the English language. From 1921-1930, he served as National Secretary of the Zionist Organization of America and, in the great schism of 1921 that split the American Zionist Movement, he joined forces with Louis Lipsky and Chaim Weizmann, establishing relationships that endured throughout their lifetimes. In the next decade, his efforts were theatrical: He directed "The Romance of a People" at the Chicago World's Fair and in New York in 1933, and then in 1937 produced "the Eternal Road", a Biblical spectacle that brought together such stellar personalities as Franz Werfel, Max Reinhardt, Kurt Weill and Norman Bel Geddes. In 1939 he built and directed the Palestine pavilion at the New York World's Fair. In 1940 he became Dr. Weizmann's personal political representative in the United States. Shortly thereafter he established the United States section of the Jewish Agency of Palestine, and served as its Secretary General until 1946. In 1944, he began his activities on behalf of the Weizmann Institute of Science, which was conceived as a gift to Dr. Weizmann on his 70th birthday. In 1947 Mr. Weisgal accepted an invitation to serve as Executive Vice-Chairman of the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute. Despite the fact that he was neither an educator nor a scientist, in 1949 Mr. Weisgal assumed leadership of the Weizmann Institute, took up residence with his family in Rehovot and, in November 1949, presided over the Institute's formal dedication. From 1949 to 1966 Mr. Weisgal was Chairman of the Institute's Executive Council, and in 1966 he was elected President of the Institute and served until 1970 when he was appointed Chancellor. In November 1952 Mr. Weisgal was named Chairman of Yad Chaim Weizmann, The national memorial to Dr. Weizmann created jointly by the government of Israel, the Jewish agency and the Weizmann Institute of Science. Among the programs undertaken by Yad Weizmann were the establishment of The Weizmann Archives and the collecting, annotating' editing and publishing of Dr. Weizmann's letters and papers, of which Mr. Weisgal was general editor. In 1957, at the request of Israel's Prime Minister, Mr. Weisgal accepted the Chairmanship of the World Committee for the observance of Israel's 10th Anniversary. His close connection with the arts led him to become Chairman of the Board of Directors of Tel Aviv's Cameri Theatre and initiator of the Itzik Manger Prize for Yiddish Literature. He also served as editor of "Chaim Weizmannn - Statesman, Scientist, Builder of the Jewish Commonwealth" published in 1944 and "Chaim Weizmann, A Biography by several Hands" published in 1963. In 1972 his own memoirs, entitled "Meyer Weisgal... So Far", were published in the U.S. by Random House, in great Britain and Israel by Weidenfeld & Nicholson and in Germany by Verlag Ullstein. They were translated into several other languages and enjoyed wide critical and popular acclaim. In "The Odyssey of an Optimist" published in 1966 on the occasion of Weisgal's 70th birthday, Nobel Laureate Isidor I. Rabi described Weisgal as "one of the great institution builders of our time; an impresario with no first-hand knowledge of Science, but with a profound understanding of and deep sensitivity to the scientific spirit; the man who has built one of the great scientific institutions of the world". Among the honors conferred upon Mr. Weisgal were the Weizmann Institute's first Ph.D. Honoris Causa (1964); an Honorary Doctorate of Brandeis University (1969); an Honorary Doctorate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (1969); The Rothchild Prize for Merit (1969) awarded to him at ceremonies held in Knesset Israel's Parliament; the Remembrance Award of the World Federation of the Bergen-Belsen Associations (1974); and the King Solomon Award of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation (1976).