SABSOVICH, H.L.

SABSOVICH, H.L. (Hirsch Loeb; 1861–1915), U.S. agronomist and a leader of the Am Olam movement. Sabsovich was born in Berdiansk, Russia. As a law student at Odessa University during the 1881 pogroms, he helped to organize Jewish self-defense. After advanced agronomy studies in Switzerland, Sabsovich became manager of an estate in the Rostov region. Immigrating to the United States in 1887, Sabsovich obtained a post as assistant director of the Agricultural Experiment Station in Fort Collins, Colorado. He was then called upon by the Baron de Hirsch Fund to direct the founding of Woodbine, New Jersey (1891), a Jewish farming-industrial community, where he was superintendent for 15 years, followed by another decade as the Fund's general agent in New York. Among his achievements was the pioneering Baron de Hirsch Agricultural School (1894–1919). Sabsovich worked closely with the Jewish Agricultural Society, the Federation of Jewish Farmers, and the Society of Jewish Social Workers of Greater New York (as president). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Brandes, Immigrants to Freedom (1971), index. (Joseph Brandes)