Morwitz, Edward
MORWITZ, EDWARD
MORWITZ, EDWARD (1815–1893), U.S. physician and journalist. Morwitz, who was born in Danzig, studied Oriental languages in Halle and medicine at the University of Berlin. He participated in the revolutionary upheavals of 1848 and then fled to the U.S. Settling in Philadelphia, Morwitz first practiced medicine (1850) but swiftly moved to leadership in German-language journalism and publishing. He took an active role in the affairs of the Democratic Party but supported the Union cause during the Civil War. When the German Dispensary (now Lankenau Hospital) in Philadelphia was threatened with closure during the war, Morwitz himself took charge and served as its medical director. He organized the German Press Association of Pennsylvania in 1862, and through merger and expansion ultimately controlled a large number of German-language and English-language newspapers. Morwitz' primary interests and contributions were in the area of German immigrant cultural and political activities, but he did maintain ties with the Jewish community through his membership in Kenesseth Israel Congregation and his ownership of the Philadelphia Jewish Record from 1875 to 1886.
bibliography:
dab, 13 (1934), 271–2, incl. bibl.; H.S. Morais, Jews of Philadelphia (1894), 338–40; B.W. Korn, Eventful Years and Experiences (1954), passim.
[Bertram Wallace Korn]