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Jesse Epstein (1910-1989) was a lawyer and served as the first director of the Seattle Housing Authority from 1939 to 1945. Epstein emigrated with his family from Russia to Great Falls, Montana in 1913. In 1927 he moved to Seattle, Washington to attend the University of Washington where he received a bachelor’s degree in political science in 1932 and a law degree in 1935. After graduating, the Bureau of Governmental Research, part of UW’s political science department, hired Epstein as a teaching fellow and research assistant. In 1939 Epstein was appointed director of the Seattle Housing Authority, a position he held until 1945. As director, Epstein oversaw the creation of Seattle’s first housing project, Yesler Terrace. The project was innovative because Epstein rejected government guidelines for design and insisted that Yesler Terrace be racially integrated. In 1945 Epstein was appointed the regional director of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) in Seattle and in 1947 was promoted to the position of West Coast director of the FHA. He resigned from the FHA in 1948 and returned to Seattle in 1949 to practice law. Epstein was active in the Seattle community, as president of the Mountaineers Club, and served on the boards for the Seattle Indian Center, REI, Keep Washington Green, Washington Wilderness Association, and Neighborhood House.

Sources:

Caldbick, John. “Epstein, Jesse (1910-1989).” HistoryLink.org, October 4, 2014. http://www.historylink.org/File/10940.