SPECIAL ARTICLES SIMON WOLFE ROSENDALH 1842-1937 SIMON WOLFE ROSENDALE a Biographical Sketch by G
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SPECIAL ARTICLES SIMON WOLFE ROSENDALH 1842-1937 SIMON WOLFE ROSENDALE A Biographical Sketch By G. HERBERT CONE With the death, in Albany, New York, on April 22, 1937, of Simon Wolfe Rosendale, in his ninety-fifth year, the Jewish community of the United States lost one of its most picturesque figures, and the Publication Society one of its oldest and most revered members. Simon Rosendale lived all his life in Albany, where he was born on June 23', 1842. His parents had come from Germany in 1837. He was educated in the public schools, the Albany Academy and the Barre (Vt.) Academy. The writer of this sketch had the unique experience of accom- panying him to Barre during the year of the eightieth anniversary of his graduation. A granite quarry had been opened at the place where the boys used to practice their orations. Admitted to the bar in 1863, Rosendale practiced his profession for about sixty years. He was a successful lawyer, representing large interests in and around Albany, and en- joyed the respect of the bar throughout the State. Soon after he was admitted, he was appointed an assistant dis- trict attorney of the county. In 1868, he was elected Recorder, a judicial position, which he held for four years. Subsequently, he was corporation counsel of Albany for several terms. In 1891, he was elected Attorney-General of the State. That was a great distinction then, as he was the first Jew to be elected to office in New York by a state- wide vote. Since then, there have been many others elected to state office, notably Benjamin N. Cardozo as Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals, Abram I. Elkus and Irving Lehman, Associate Judges of that court, and the latter's younger brother, Herbert H. Lehman, as Governor of the State. Rosendale served as President of the State Bar Association. 25 26 AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK Besides these offices in the line of his profession, he was honored by other offices. In 1899, Theodore Roosevelt, when Governor, appointed him a member of the State Board of Charities. He took great pride in performing the duties of that position and, through successive appoint- ments, remained in it for seventeen years, ending up as vice-president of the Board. In the meantime, in 1900, he was chosen as the President of the Board of Governors of Union University, Schenectady, and, in the same year, member of the Board of Governors of Albany Medical Col- lege, of which he was successively vice-president (1898), and president (1904-1920). Union University conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL. D. In his home city, he took a prominent part in civic affairs. He also served as a director of the National Commercial Bank, president of the National Savings Bank, and a trustee of the Albany Hospital. In his practice, he associated himself with Rufus \V. Peckham, later an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and Albert Hessberg, under the firm name of Peckham, Rosendale and Hessberg. When, in 1883, Judge Peckham retired to take a judicial position, the firm continued for many years as Rosendale and Hessberg. Always a devout Jew, Rosendale identified himself with practically all the movements in his active days that sought to advance Jewish interests and culture. He was President of the Court of Appeal of the B'nai B'rith, a member of the Executive Board of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, a generous supporter of the Hebrew Union College, in Cincinnati, and an intimate friend of Dr. Isaac M. Wise, its founder. In this connection, it may be of interest to note that when in 1850, Dr. Wise organized the first reform congregation in Albany, which was the first in the country, Mr. Rosendale's father was violently op- posed. Rosendale was then a boy of eight, but later, saw eye to eye with Dr. Wise in his reform views. In 1888, Rosendale presided at the conference which resulted in the establishment of the Jewish Publication Society of America of which he was vice-president, either active or honorary, from that year until the day of his death. He was an organ- izer, in 1892, of the American Jewish Historical Society, a SIMON WOLFE ROSENDALE 27 trustee of the Congregation Beth Emeth in Albany, and on the boards of all the Jewish charitable institutions in Albany. He was also one of the organizers of the American Jewish Committee, in 1906. In the field of philanthropy he took a leading part and was a liberal contributor to both Jewish and Christian charities. The foregoing recital of his activities will serve to indicate the wide extent of his interests. Living through the days when there was not a large Jewish population in any city, and during the formative period of many of the early proj- ects connected with Jewish community life, his counsel and advice undoubtedly made a lasting impression on Jewish life in this country. At the same time, he was thor- oughly grounded in the American tradition and was imbued with a deep understanding of, and an ardent attachment to, American institutions, He had the greatest solicitude that his co-religionists should yield to none in loyalty to their adopted country, without, at the same time, deviating from their religious teachings and traditions. That, it may be said, was his guiding impulse. He strove to make clear that the Jews are a religious sect and not a race or nation- ality. With all movements to segregate the Jews on a polit- ical or other than a religious basis he had slight patience. His voice was ever raised in protest against anything which, in his eyes, would detract from the duty which the Jew owed as a citizen of this country. In newsprints, in periodicals, and in speech he sought ever to inculcate what he regarded as the true distinctions. His social contacts were wide, and, while Mrs. Rosendale lived, his home attracted to it many people of national and international prominence including, besides many others, Charles Dickens and the late Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. In politics he was a Democrat. I betray no con- fidence when I say that he looked askance at the present tendencies of the party under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Especially did he deplore the pending proposal to make radical changes in the Federal Supreme Court. Rosendale admired Grover Cleveland's rugged indepen- dence, and a close friendship sprang up between them while Cleveland was Governor, which continued during the lat- ter's life. Rosendale was a neighbor and intimate friend 2$ AMERICAN JEWISH YEAR BOOK of Daniel Manning who was Secretary of the Treasury in Cleveland's Cabinet. When, in 1887, Cleveland and his Secretary of the Treasury became estranged and Manning resigned, Mr. Rosendale had some worrisome times. Be- tween him and Rufus Wheeler Peckham, his law partner and later a Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1896-1909), there was a lasting attachment. I can name but a few of the many outstanding Jews with whom he was on intimate terms. They included Louis Marshall, Isidor, Oscar and Nathan Straus and Adolph S. Ochs,— names to conjure with, when enumerating the prominent Jews in this country. When Judge Cardozo came to Albany as a member of the Court of Appeals, he and Rosendale be- came great friends. With the exception of Justice Cardozo, Rosendale lived to see all his friends and intimates tread the westward trail ahead of him. This is a penalty one pays in the twilight of an unusually long life. Rosendale was a good-looking man, trim and neat in personal appearance, with a great deal of social grace and charm. His was a cultivated mind, well versed in the his- tory and traditions of his religion, as well as in general history and literature. In 1870, he married Helen Cone, a native of Albany, and their married life was a long and happy one, extending as it did to 1922, when Mrs. Rosen- dale died, shortly after they had celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. They had no children. The Rosendales traveled extensively throughout the world. On their 20th, 30th and 40th wedding anniversaries, they went to Egypt and the Orient. Their home was filled with objects of art and curiosities they had collected on their travels. He was a keen observer with a deep under- standing of the meanings of things in nature and the works of man. He led a simple life, remaining until the end moderate in all things and keenly interested in the world about him. He spent a great deal of time in fishing, and his fishing trips continued until he was well past his eightieth year. It was a delight to be with him on these trips. He was the true fisherman, content when the fish did not bite, and full of grateful enthusiasm when they did. His was a long and useful life and, to the Jews of America, especially, it was a real blessing. RICHARD J. H. GOTTHEIL 1862-1936 RICHARD J. H. GOTTHEIL A Biographical Sketch By Louis I. NEWMAN In April, 1925, Professor Richard James Horatio Gottheil was sent by Columbia University as delegate to the dedica- tion of the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus in Jeru- salem. He bore with him a message from Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler, President of Columbia. After reading this in the Latin in which it was written, Professor Gottheil proceeded to translate it into Hebrew. No incident in his long career was a more accurate symbol of the interests of the great Semitics scholar and Jewish communal leader who passed away in New York City, May 22, 1936.