Archives West Finding Aid

Samuel G. Holcenberg was an attorney; (1899-1978); born in New York City, he and his family moved to the West Coast when he was a child. In 1926 he became the executive director (1926-1939) of the San Francisco-based Jewish Committee for Personal Service (JCPS). This organization considered mentally and physically disabled Jews, as well as Jewish prison inmates, the responsibility of the Jewish community, and it worked with them in California institutions. Under Holcenberg's leadership, the JCPS introduced new ideas into social welfare, including an innovative rehabilitation program for young offenders. In 1940, Holcenberg joined the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds (CJFWF), as a field representative for the western states region. As such, he helped small communities establish Jewish agencies. During years of increasing antisemitism at home and abroad, Holcenberg and the CJFWF helped convince the leadership of the local Jewish community of its responsibility to world Jewry. In 1943, Holcenberg was appointed the executive director of the Seattle Federation Jewish Fund and Council. During this time, he also served as the director of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith for both the city of Seattle and the state of Washington, and he guided the public relations efforts for both organizations. Holcenberg married Miriam Wasserman (1930), who was one of the first psychiatric caseworkers employed by the state of California and who later was associated with San Francisco's Jewish Family Service Agency and its Homewood Terrace.