Wise, George Schneiweis
WISE, GEORGE SCHNEIWEIS
WISE, GEORGE SCHNEIWEIS (1906–1987), sociologist; first president of *Tel Aviv University. Born in Pinsk, Poland, he went to the U.S. to study in 1926 and graduated from Columbia University in 1930. He served as associate director of its Bureau of Applied Social Research from 1949 to 1952, and lecturer on the sociology of Latin America from 1950 to 1952. For his assistance in the anti-illiteracy campaign in Mexico in 1944–46 he was decorated with the order Aguila Azteca by the Mexican government in 1946, and was visiting professor at Mexico University from 1956 to 1957. Long a supporter of The Hebrew University, he was chairman of its board of governors from 1953 to 1962. In 1963 he was elected president of the newly established Tel Aviv University, which developed rapidly during his tenure of office. In 1971 he became its chancellor. Apart from wide business interests, he took part in Jewish public activities in the United Jewish Appeal and other bodies. He is author of The Breakdown of Parental Authority in Polish Immigrant Families in the United States (1931), Caudillo (1951), a study of Latin American dictatorship, and Mexico de Aleman (1952).