Funeral services were held here today for Joseph Meyerhoff, a real estate developer and philanthropist who contributed unselfishly to numerous Jewish charities and Israeli educational institutions. He died last Saturday of a heart attack at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He was 85 years old.
A former national general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, he was until his death chairman of the Palestine Economic Corporation, which deals with private investment in Israel. He was president of the corporation from 1956 to 1963 when he became chairman.
Meyerhoff’s family came to the United States from Russia and settled in Baltimore when he was 7 years old. He graduated in 1920 from the Law School at the University of Mary land.
In Israel he was a member of the board of Tel Aviv University, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Weizmann Institute of Science and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. He was also involved with the Israel Museum where he contributed for the construction of the Joseph and Rebecca Meyerhoff Ancient Glass Pavillion at the museum.
Among his numerous activities, Meyerhoff was involved at various times with the Israel Discount Bank, the Associated Jewish Charities and Welfare Fund of Baltimore, United Israel Appeal, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Israel Bond Organization and Yeshiva University in New York.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.