Abraham Foxman: A Life Remembered

We deeply mourn the loss of Abraham H. Foxman, ADL’s longtime national director. Born in 1940, Abe survived the Holocaust after he was entrusted to his Polish Catholic nanny, who had him baptized as a Catholic to hide his Jewish identity. He was miraculously reunited with his parents after the war.

Abe graduated from City College of the City University of New York and NYU School of Law, joining ADL immediately after graduating from law school and serving in various roles before being tapped as national director in 1987, succeeding Nathan Perlmutter. An outspoken, passionate, and tireless advocate for the Jewish people and Israel, Abe served his entire 50-year career at ADL, becoming one of the world’s foremost voices against antisemitism and hate. He retired in 2015. 

Foxman was appointed in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan to the council of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and was later reappointed by Presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and Joe Biden.

From 2016 through 2021, he served as vice chair of the board of trustees at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage, helping lead the institution’s efforts related to antisemitism.

Over the course of his career, Foxman received numerous honors, including France’s Legion of Honor, awarded to him in 2006 by then-French President Jacques Chirac.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar wrote that Foxman was a “towering voice against antisemitism.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog remembered hi as a “legendary leader of the Jewish people, a champion of justice and equality, and a longtime, dear friend of mine.”

Nicole Munchnik, ADL Board Chair:

Abe Foxman helped build the modern liberal era of America. He was recognized across the globe as a great leader and passionate advocate for tolerance, a voice of the generation rebuilding in the shadow of the Shoah, and longtime advisor to American presidents and world leaders. To those of us who knew him, Abe was a warm friend, advisor, spirited antagonist and hugger — all over lunch.

On behalf of the ADL Board of Directors, and our thousands of ADL volunteer leaders over decades, I extend our deepest condolences to his beloved Golda and beautiful family, who were the ultimate prizes of his life.

Jonathan Greenblatt, ADL CEO and National Director:

America and the Jewish people have lost a moral voice, a passionate advocate for the Jewish people and the state of Israel, and a remarkable leader.

Abe Foxman was an iconic Jewish leader who embraced the ideal of an America free from antisemitism and hate and who strongly believed that these scourges could be defeated if good people opposed it.

In his storied career, Abe transformed ADL while confronting antisemitism and hate (from both left and right), opposing the global rise in antisemitism, holding world leaders accountable and working to ensure that Israel was Jewish, secure and democratic.  Abe’s voice was heard – and listened to – by popes, presidents, and prime ministers, a voice he used wherever Jews were at risk.  Abe Foxman spoke on the global stage with moral authority and clarity and was relentlessly dedicated to his pursuit of a world without hate.

Abe understood the power of words. He often said that the Holocaust did not begin with bricks and mortar and gas chambers, but rather, it began with words. From this foundational principle, he made education and ant-ibias training a cornerstone of ADL’s work just as ADL would stand in opposition to hateful rhetoric and violent bigotry whatever its source.

His work and philosophy were forged in a remarkable childhood. During the Holocaust, his parents were forced to entrust him to the care of his Polish-Catholic nanny Bronislawa Kurpi who baptized him and raised him as a Catholic for four years; she sought to retain custody of Abe.  Although he lost 14 members of his family in the Holocaust, his parents survived and emigrated to the United States with Abe. He attended the Yeshiva of Flatbush and then went to City College and NYU Law, among other graduate studies. Abe joined ADL in 1965 as an assistant director of legal affairs.

Edwin Black interviewed Abe Foxman in September 2015 on the occasion of his retirement as national director.

We extend our deepest condolences to Abe’s wife Golda, his children Michelle and Ariel and his son-in-law Brandon Cardet-Hernandez, as well as his grandchildren, Cielo, Leila, Gideon, and Amirit.

May his memory be for a blessing.