In Loving Memory of Abraham Foxman, z”l
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It is with a heavy heart that we inform you of the death of our beloved friend and colleague, Abraham Foxman. Abe was close to the Claims Conference family, participating in many of our social media campaigns, speaking on our behalf, and importantly, serving on the Claims Conference Negotiating Delegation. An imposing figure in Jewish communal life, he survived the Holocaust as a hidden child and passed away on Sunday, May 10, at the age of 86 years old.
Abe’s lifelong commitment to fighting antisemitism and passionate support for a secure and democratic Israel made him one of the most recognizable Jewish voices of his generation. Throughout his career, he warned that the Holocaust did not begin with deportations and gas chambers, but with words — with rhetoric born of vitriol, prejudice and ignorance. Yet, despite witnessing humanity at its worst, he never lost faith that the menace of hatred could be defeated if good people opposed it. “If I did not believe that I could change people’s minds and hearts,” he commented in one interview, “I wouldn’t go to work.”
Claims Conference Special Negotiator, Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat stated, “Abe was a visionary leader and a voice for Holocaust survivors globally. He did not simply champion the fight against antisemitism for decades—he transformed it, while also fighting vigorously against Holocaust denial and distortion. He did so through humanity, grace, and unwavering conviction.”
Born in 1940 in Baranowicze, a small city in Poland that is now part of Belarus, Foxman’s parents placed him in the care of his Polish Catholic nanny, who had him baptized, changed his name to Henryk Stanislaw Kurpi and raised him as a Christian in Vilnius. Late in the war, following Lithuania’s liberation, Foxman was reunited with his Jewish parents in 1944 and slowly immersed in a Jewish environment.
The family immigrated to the United States in 1950, and Abe graduated from the Yeshivah of Flatbush in Brooklyn, received his B.A. from the City College of New York and his law degree from New York University. After joining the Anti-Defamation League in 1965 as a legal assistant, he became its National Director in 1987 and led the organization for almost three decades, until 2015, after which he served as the ADL’s National Director Emeritus. From 2016 to 2021, he also served as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City and was named to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council by four Presidents. He believed deeply that vigilance and education were the strongest weapons against hatred. Abe famously said, “Until we find an antidote, a vaccine, or something in the DNA that causes people to hate, the answer is education, education, education.”
A recipient of numerous distinguished honors, Foxman was named a Knight of the Legion of Honor (France’s highest civilian honor) by French President Jacques Chirac; appointed to the Honorary Delegation accompanying U.S. President George Bush to Jerusalem for the celebration of Israel’s 60th Anniversary; and received the Interfaith Committee of Remembrance Lifetime Achievement Award “as a leader in the fight against anti-Semitism, bigotry, and discrimination.”
Abe was also the author of a number of books, including the following: Jews & Money: The Story of a Stereotype, The Deadliest Lies: The Israel Lobby the Myth of Jewish Control and Never Again? The Threat of the New Anti-Semitism and he was the co-author of Viral Hate: Containing Its Spread on the Internet.
He is survived by his wife Golda; two children, Michelle and Ariel; and four grandchildren, Cielo, Leila, Gideon and Amirit.
May his memory be a blessing.
