Nathan Chanin, one of the outstanding leaders of the Jewish labor movement in the United States, and secretary-general emeritus of the Workmen’s Circle, largest national Jewish fraternal order, died here today after a long illness. He was 78.
Born near Minsk and active in the Russian revolutionary movement in Czarist days, he came to this country in 1912, after serving a sentence of nearly eight years in Siberia. In New York, he became active in the Cap and Millinery Workers Union, serving that organization several years as vice-president. He wrote prolifically in Yiddisn, contributing to many of the leading Socialist-Jewish newspapers and magazines. He was also the author of several books.
After serving 15 years as educational director of the Workmen’s Circle, he became that fraternal organization’s secretary-general in 1951, retiring from that post as emeritus in 1963. Recently, the Jewish labor movement established a Nathan Chanin Educational Foundation for the perpetuation of his aims and achievements. At his death, he was a member of the boards of directors of United Hias Service, the Joint Distribution committee, ORT, the Congress of Jewish Culture and the Yiddish magazine Zukunft.
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