ABOUT
The Harry G. Friedman Society was founded in 1977 by a group of collectors of Judaica and others interested in Jewish art. We meet monthly, except during the summer months, for programs that focus on Jewish visual art and material culture. Our membership includes collectors, museum professionals, artists, and others with an interest in Jewish art.
Alfred Moldovan
Dr. Alfred Moldovan (1921–2013) and his wife, Jean (1931–1995), were the progenitors of the Harry G. Friedman Society. Born in the Bronx, a World War II veteran, practicing physician in New York, and noted civil rights activist, Dr. Moldovan was a knowledgeable aficionado and the preeminent collector of ritual and ethnographic Judaica in New York, maintaining an extensive collection in the family apartment. Beginning in the late 1960s, the Moldovans periodically hosted Sunday at-home brunches for visiting Jewish scholars, also inviting friends who were interested in and collectors of Judaica. Gradually, these meetings became too large for their apartment. As a result, the Friedman Society was conceived about 1975 at Dr. Moldovan’s suggestion and by those Judaica enthusiasts accustomed to regularly attending such get-togethers. Since Dr. Moldovan was then a member of the Jewish Museum’s acquisitions advisory committee, the Museum graciously allowed the Friedman Society to meet on its premises. Alfred Moldovan was the founding president of the Society from its inception and led its development until he stepped down from this position in 1995 after the death of his wife. He maintained his keen interest in Judaica, the Society, and its activities until his death in 2013. He and Jean are warmly remembered by all those privileged to have known them.
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Harry G. Friedman
Harry G. Friedman was the donor of over 6,000 objects in the collection of the Jewish Museum. This is the greatest number of gifts of objects to the Museum from a single donor and represents about one quarter of the collection of the largest Jewish museum in the Western Hemisphere. He collected only for the Museum.
We often take names for granted, but Harry G. Friedman (1881–1965) was a remarkable man, not only for his gifts to the Jewish Museum, but for the totality of his life. He was born in Poland and brought to Cincinnati, Ohio, by his parents as an eight-year-old. He grew up to graduate from the University of Cincinnati, to be ordained as a rabbi at Hebrew Union College, and to earn a PhD in Economics at Columbia University in 1908.
Harry G. Friedman’s brilliant business career, during which he became president of General America Investors, was paralleled by his career as a philanthropist. In addition to his gifts to the Jewish Museum, he contributed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as to other museums. He was secretary of the committee that organized the agency now known as the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies and continued to be involved in the management of the agency.