WEISGAL, MEYER WOLF

WEISGAL, MEYER WOLF (1894–1977), Zionist. Born in Kikol (near Lipno), Poland. Weisgal emigrated to the U.S. in 1905. From 1921 to 1938 he served as national secretary of the Zionist Organization of America, and became Chaim *Weizmann's personal political representative in the U.S. In 1940 he participated in the establishment of the U.S. section of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, serving as its secretary general until 1946. He was appointed organizing secretary of the *American Jewish Conference in 1943. In 1944 Weisgal began his dynamic public relations activities on behalf of the *Weizmann Institute of Science. He established his residence in Israel in 1949 on the campus of the Institute at Reḥovot and took over the management of its affairs as chairman of the Executive Council. He served as president from 1966 to 1969 and then as chancellor. Weisgal was closely connected with the arts in the U.S. and Israel. He edited several newspapers and books of Jewish interest (The Maccabean, 1918–21, and New Palestine, 1921–30), and produced a number of plays, including Franz Werfel's The Eternal Road, directed by Max Reinhardt in 1937 in the U.S. He edited the book Theodor Herzl, a Memorial (1929), and two books on Weizmann: Chaim Weizmann: Statesman, Scientist, Builder of the Jewish Commonwealth (1944), and Chaim Weizmann: A Biography by Several Hands (1963²). Weisgal's autobiography, … So Far, was published in 1971 and the Hebrew translation, Ad Kan, in 1972. He was buried on the grounds of the Weizmann Institute.

bibliography:

E. Victor (ed.), Meyer Weisgal at Seventy: an Anthology (1966).

[Rinna Samuel]