Daniel Mann, a Washington-area Jewish community professional and activist who was long involved in the Labor Zionist movement and was an executive director of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington in 1973-79, died on May 31. He was 82.
“He was energetic, persistent, meticulous and committed to the cause he was working on,” said Rabbi William Rudolph, of Congregation Beth El of Montgomery County, where Mann was a longtime member.
Mann was “the consummate Jewish civil servant,” said Norman Goldstein, quoting Hasia Diner in Fifty Years of Jewish Self-Governance, during his eulogy for Mann at Beth El of Montgomery County.
Goldstein said Mann served as the national president of the Labor Zionist Alliance, president of the Jewish Communal Service Association of North America, international director of the B’nai B’rith Israel Commission, chairman of the Isaac Franck Library, national coordinator of the American Zionist Movement and founding chair of the Habonim Dror Foundation.
More recently, Mann and Goldstein worked together to create an exhibit for the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington, Voices of the Vigil, that documented the community’s involvement in the Soviet Jewry movement.
“Danny was old school,” Goldstein said in his eulogy. “Everyone should be heard. There could never be too much discussion. He did not cater to anyone and adhered to his commitment to principles.”
Daniel Mann was born in Cincinnati. In the 1950s he met Elaine Scherr who, like he, was a member of the Labor Zionist youth movement, Habonim. They were married in 1956 “in a kibbutz-style wedding in an Orthodox shul in the Bronx,” according to Rudolph.
The Manns had a son, David. Elaine Mann died in May.
Survivors include David Mann. Contributions may be made to Jewish Foundation for Group Homes, www.jfgh.org. Arrangements by Hines Rinaldi Funeral Home, Inc., under Jewish Funeral Practices Committee of Greater Washington contract. – David Holzel
