BROIDO, LOUIS

BROIDO, LOUIS (1895–1975), U.S. business executive and communal leader. Broido was born in Pittsburgh. He served with the U.S. Army in France, in World War I, then as a member of the U.S. Commission for War Claims in France and Italy until 1920. Broido returned to practice law in Pittsburgh and then in New York from 1926 to 1936, when he left the bar to become executive vice president and later chairman of the advisory commission of Gimbels Brothers. He retired from this post in 1961 and became managing partner of a private investment company from 1962. Named New York City commissioner of commerce in 1961, Broido was also a New York retail trade leader and a member of several municipal committees. He was vice chairman of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations for many years, president of the United Jewish Appeal in 1951 and 1952, and from 1965 chairman of the american jewish joint distribution committee . His wife, LUCY KAUFMANN BROIDO (1900–1969), helped found the Women's Division of the New York United Jewish Appeal. She was vice president of the Jewish Education Committee (1946–53), and president of the New York section of the National Council of Jewish Women (1949–53). (Edward L. Greenstein)