BRESSLER, DAVID MAURICE

BRESSLER, DAVID MAURICE (1879–1942), U.S. social worker and leader in American Jewish efforts to assist Jewish immigrants to the United States, and to aid European Jews during and after World War I. Bressler was born in Charlottenburg, Germany, and was taken to the United States in 1884. He served as manager of the Industrial Removal Office (1900–16), a branch of the Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Aid Society, directing the resettlement of 75,000 immigrant Jews from congested Eastern port cities of the United States to less crowded areas of the country. During World War I Bressler joined the american jewish joint distribution committee , in which he played an important role until his death. During the 1920s he headed a number of campaigns to aid European Jews. Bressler served as national chairman of the Allied Jewish Relief campaign of 1930. During the 1930s Governor Herbert Lehman appointed him to important posts in New York State agencies. (Irwin Yellowitz)