Press Release - 03.16.2000
(Updated March 28)

NCSJ Mourns Morris B. Abram

WASHINGTON— The National Conference on Soviet Jewry (NCSJ) mourned the loss of its former Chairman, Ambassador Morris B. Abram, who passed away March 16 in Geneva, Switzerland.

NCSJ leaders shared recollections of Ambassador Abram’s personal and communal impact. According to NCSJ Chairman Denis C. Braham of Houston, "Morris was extremely influential in my involvement in the movement, through his leadership and the role model that he set for the Board of Governors and NCSJ. He was larger than life in the charismatic way he held the attention of people, and he was heroic in almost a biblical sense."

NCSJ President Howard E. Sachs recalled hearing about Morris Abram even before they met: "In Atlanta, where I’ve lived for the past 26 years, people here had always spoken of him as such a progressive thinker, a true believer in human rights, a man who really did what he said he was going to do, who made statements and delivered on those statements. I later learned a tremendous amount from him about doing positive things for others without looking to get anything in return, and about there being honor in that."

"I had the privilege of knowing and working with Morris Abram for almost 20 years," NCSJ Executive Director Mark B. Levin reflected. "He was my mentor, advisor, friend. I watched and learned how one individual can truly make a difference for so many people."

"The experiences that he brought to NCSJ from his instrumental role in the civil rights movement, and his leadership of Brandeis University and national Jewish groups made him uniquely qualified to head the organization at a time when the plight of Soviet Jewry was at the top of the Jewish global agenda," Braham noted. "Morris was not just an American Jewish leader but a world Jewish leader. When he was given the job of being U.S. ambassador to the United Nations or to the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, these were not honorary titles for Morris but roles he earned and discharged as an accomplished diplomat. He was an American patriot, a Jewish patriot, a civil rights patriot – adjectives that apply to him so well."

"Morris ran many meetings in New York where many people had much to say," Sachs related, "and he was able to get through everything that needed to be done at very difficult and critical points for Soviet Jewry. He was fantastic at keeping us focused, keeping us moving forward, and rallying support from the Administration and Capitol Hill as well as influencing their thinking. He was a great teacher." For Braham as well, "He was never mundane, always insightful and to the point, and not wrapped up in details but focused on achieving the goal at hand, which made him stand apart from other people.

"Morris never lost sight of our movement’s larger goals," Levin remarked. "He elevated the importance of Soviet Jewry to unprecedented heights during its most critical phase."

In early 1988, following the December 1987 Freedom Sunday for Soviet Jews, which drew 250,00 activists to Washington, DC, then-President Ronald Reagan congratulated Morris Abram and NCSJ "on your extraordinarily successful demonstration on December 6. It deserved and received great attention throughout the world – from the White House to the Kremlin."

When Ambassador Abram completed his term as Chairman of NCSJ later the same year, then-Secretary of State George Shultz wrote: "I consider you a trusted and valued advisor on this and many other issues. You have been my ‘rabbi’ on Soviet Jewry, educating and guiding me through difficult times. You have won my deepest admiration and respect for what I know is a life-long effort to defend the rights of individuals around the world."

"For Shultz, Morris was the personification of the Jewish community," Braham observed. "When Morris was called to the White House or the Secretary of State’s office, he had a certain presence and one understood that this was a meeting of equals. He was the kind of leader and individual who, if you knew him, you would stop and think: Is this the way Morris would do it?"

Sachs stressed: "It’s hard to think of Morris not being around to speak with and consult with, to not have his wisdom." "I will never forget Morris and what he has meant to me personally as well as his contributions to the Jewish people," Levin stated.

Addressing an American Jewish Committee dinner to honor Ambassador Abram on December 12, 1999, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said: "Today, Morris's many contributions over the years are known to us all. He has become a forceful advocate of freedom, tolerance and civil rights.... And he has embraced, as one of his main causes, the fate of Jews around the world and their hopes of living fruitful lives, free from discrimination and fear.  He has, in short, proved himself a global citizen of the first rank."

Morris Berthold Abram, who was born in Fitzgerald, Georgia, in 1918, had served as Chairman of NCSJ from 1983 until 1988, at the peak of the movement to free Soviet Jews. During that period, he also served for three years as Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. He was an appointee of five Presidents – John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush. He led U.S. delegations to numerous international meetings, including the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the former Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe , and was a former vice-chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. Under President Bush, he served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, and founded United Nations Watch following his term as Ambassador . He was a past President of the American Jewish Committee and Brandeis University, former Chairman of the United Negro College Fund and Chairman of the Board of Cardozo Law School, and argued landmark civil rights cases in the 1950s and 1960s, including the 1963 "One Man, One Vote" ruling by the Supreme Court. He was a senior partner at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. His 1982 book, The Day Is Short (Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich), details his legendary career and his successful battle with an acute form of leukemia.  He is survived by his wife, Bruna Molina Abram, a United Nations human rights official, as well as several children and grandchildren.

Additional coverage of Morris Abram's death is available at the following links:

• Jewish Telegraphic Agency  
• New York Times (March 17, 2000)  
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution (March 17, 2000)
• Los Angeles Times (March 17, 2000)
• Boston Globe  
• Washington Post
• Associated Press 
• Earth Times
• United Nations Secretary General  
• Jewish Week (New York)
• The Forward
• Representative Tom Lantos (R-CA)  


NCSJ, a non-for-profit agency created in 1971, is the mandated central coordinating agency in the United States on behalf of the 1.5 million Jews in the successor states. Today, NCSJ continues its commitment to safeguard the religious and political freedoms of Jews living in the successor states, protect their right to emigrate without impediment, monitor and combat anti-Semitism, and ensure that Jews have full access to Jewish education, culture, and heritage.