Michael Feldberg, former executive director of the American Jewish Historical Society, passed away on December 4th, 2024. Michael was the second longest director of AJHS and led the institution in its move from the Brandeis University campus to its current home at the Center for Jewish History.
Feldberg served as executive director of AJHS from 1991 to 2004, and then as the Director of Research from 2004-2008. During his tenure, AJHS celebrated the anniversary of the first Jews to land in New York, helped with the Israel Day Parade, established our Sports Collection, established the Hank Greenberg Sports Dinner Award, and arranged for Ambassador Loeb’s family papers to join the collections. When AJHS moved to the Center for Jewish History in 2000, Feldberg created the opening “Seeing Ourselves” exhibit and later, after leaving AJHS, Feldberg helped with the creation of “Passages Through the Fire: Jews and the Civil War” exhibit in partnership with the Milberg Foundation. In 2002, he led the rededication of the Emma Lazarus plaque on the upper promenade of Battery Park.
Feldberg’s writing can be found in Blessings of Freedom: Chapters in American Jewish History
After leaving AJHS, Feldberg worked with Ambassador John L. Loeb at the Touro Synagogue in Newport, RI, establishing the Loeb Visitor Center at the synagogue and the George Washington Institute for Religious Freedom.
AJHS remembers Michael on his Yahrzeit, may his memory be a blessing.
