Lou Goldman

Lou Goldman, who served as president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Dayton from 1972 to 1974 and was a national chairman of United Jewish Appeal, died on Dec. 6 at the age of 82.

As a young man, Goldman saw Golda Meir when she came to Dayton on June 8, 1948 — in the middle of Israel’s War of Independence. Nineteen years later, Goldman chaired Dayton’s Israel Emergency Campaign during the Six-Day War and served as a national chair of United Jewish Appeal. Over a matter of weeks in that summer of ‘67, Goldman and his emergency cabinet raised $1.1 million in Dayton, an unprecedented sum to that point.

“Dayton became the highest city per capita in giving for that campaign in all the country,” Goldman said in a 2007 interview with The Observer. “Even Christians gave. I called people and they were very willing, (but) I asked them to give even more. I wasn’t afraid to ask.”

When Israel was attacked during Yom Kippur in 1973, the Federation, under Goldman’s leadership, rose to the challenge again and raised a record $2 million.

Goldman — an attorney, real estate developer and retailer — served as national chairman of the UJC Operation Israel program and was on the board of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, American Friends of Hebrew University, State of Israel Bonds, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

He also co-chaired the Federation’s capital fund campaign for the Jewish Community Complex, which included Covenant House and the Jesse Philips Building.

“Lou knew the great pioneer leaders of the Jewish state personally,” said Jewish Federation Executive Vice President Larry Skolnick. “He had relationships with Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, and David Ben-Gurion. Lou was instrumental in developing UJA’s national missions program. And during Israel’s darkest hours, he made sure Israel knew that America stands with the Jewish state.”

— Marshall Weiss