HACKENBURG, WILLIAM BOWER

HACKENBURG, WILLIAM BOWER (1837–1918), U.S. silk manufacturer and philanthropist. After becoming secretary of the Hebrew Relief Society in 1858, Hackenburg devoted a great deal of his time to doing philanthropic work in his native Philadelphia. He was a founder of the Jewish Hospital, being largely responsible for its development into a major public institution, a trustee of both the Baron de Hirsch Fund and Dropsie College, and a vice president of the Board of Delegates of American Israelites. In 1878 he supervised the latter organization's compilation of a statistical survey of American Jewry. He was also active in Russo-Jewish refugee relief work. (Sefton D. Temkin)