Sobeloff, Isidor

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SOBELOFF, ISIDOR

SOBELOFF, ISIDOR (1899– ), U.S. social worker and community leader. Sobeloff, who was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and was the brother of Simon E. *Sobeloff, became the city editor of the Cumberland (Md.) Daily News in 1920. He subsequently worked as director of the Jewish Community Center in Jersey City, New Jersey (1922–25), then joined the Federation of Jewish Philanthropists in New York (1925–30) and the Travelers' Aid Society (1930–34). While serving as director of public education for the Welfare Council of New York (1934–37), Sobeloff was also managing editor of the Jewish Social Service Quarterly (1932–36) and editor of Better Times, a social-work publication (1934–37). As executive vice president of the Jewish Welfare Federation of Detroit from 1937 to 1964, Sobeloff made the Jewish philanthropic campaigns in that city among the most effective in the United States. He attempted to do likewise as director of the Jewish Federation Council of Greater Los Angeles (1964–69). In other social-work activity, he was president of the National Conference of Jewish Social Welfare (1945) and a lecturer at the Training Bureau for Jewish Social Work. Sobeloff's many Jewish community positions included secretary of the allotment committee of the United Jewish Appeal (1944).

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