Aleph Katz Dead at 70; Yiddish Poet, Essayist, JTA Editor for over 40 Years

Morris Abraham Katz. Yiddish poet, essayist and a Yiddish editor of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency for more than 40 years, died yesterday after a long illness. He was 70 years old.

Born in Mylnow, Russia, Mr. Katz came to the United States in 1913 and attended City College of New York. He joined the JTA in 1925 and retired last year. He wrote a number of books of Yiddish poetry and essays, and a number of plays. He was a member of the Yiddish Writers Union, the Farband Labor Zionist Order, the Yiddish Dictionary Committee, YIVO, the Congress for Jewish Culture, the Jewish Pen Club and other organizations. He was the recipient of the Congress for Jewish Culture Award in 1955 and other awards for his Yiddish writings.

Mr. Katz first attracted attention with descriptions of the Bowery in New York City and with alliterative poems for children. His published books included “A Mayse fun Yam” (A Tale of the Sea, 1925); “Akertzeit” (Plowing Time, 1929); “Dos Telerl fun Himel” (The saucer from Heaven); “Fun Alef bis Tov (From A to Z, 1939). He also translated into Yiddish Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island in 1927. Services will be held at noon Sunday at the Riverside Chapel, 76th St. and Amsterdam Ave., and internment will be in Cedar Park Cemetery, Paramus, N.J.