GOLDWASSER, ISRAEL EDWIN

GOLDWASSER, ISRAEL EDWIN (1878–1974), U.S. educator, financier, and philanthropist. Goldwasser was born in New York City, and began public school teaching in 1897. He eventually became a principal and the youngest district superintendent of schools in New York City (1914–17), publishing several educational works, including Method and Methods in Teaching English (1912) and Yiddish English Lessons (with Joseph Jablonower, 1914). In 1920 Goldwasser entered business as a factor, becoming president of an investment firm during the 1930s, and retired in 1954 after nearly 15 years with the Commercial Factors Corporation. Subsequently he served as an economic consultant and took a special interest in economic projects in Israel. Goldwasser was a leading figure in many Jewish communal organizations, such as the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies, of which he was the first executive director (1917–20). His son, EDWIN L. GOLDWASSER (1919– ), was co-director of the National Accelerator Laboratory in Weston, Illinois, the world's largest atom smasher. Professor emeritus of physics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, he also served as vice chancellor for academic affairs. He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; the American Physical Society; and the J.S. Guggenheim Foundation. He wrote Optics, Waves, Atoms, and Nuclei: An Introduction (1965).