Roger Williams Straus was one of the founders in 1928 of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. This organization’s mission is to fight bigotry, racism and bias through conflict resolution, advocacy and education. The national conference was set up as an outgrowth of “a violent brand of bigotry” in the 1928 presidential campaign. Roger served along with co-chairs Newton D. Baker, a Protestant, and Professor Carleton J. H. Hayes, a Catholic. In 1929 he proclaimed: “It is now in your hands in the new, less dramatic, but equally difficult warfare, that of the spirit and intellect, to combat the corrosive, brutal theory of materialism, and thereby to serve again our religion, our country and humanity.”
He was co-chair of many conferences held at the new Williamstown Institute of Human Relations. The program of the institute was under the auspices of director Dr. Everett R. Clinchy.
In 1939, Gladys Guggenheim Straus (1895-1980), Roger’s wife, representing New York City, attended this conference whose central theme was “Citizenship and Religion: A Consideration of American Policy with Regard to the Relations of Church and Synagogue to the State.” Roger spoke about the “need for strengthening the moral and spiritual values of the nation’s people as a means for saving democracy in a world fraught with antagonism and false standards.”
]]>Roger Williams Straus (1891-1957) was involved in charitable endeavors like his parents, Oscar S. and Sarah Lavanburg Straus, and his in-laws, Daniel and Florence Guggenheim, who set such a good example. He was president of the Fred L. Lavanburg Foundation, which concerned itself with the building of model homes for the underprivileged. He was also a trustee on the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation which gave fellowships to artists and scholars abroad.
Roger Williams Straus was one of the founders in 1928 of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. This organization’s mission is to fight bigotry, racism and bias through conflict resolution, advocacy and education. The national conference was set up as an outgrowth of “a violent brand of bigotry” in the 1928 presidential campaign. Roger served along with co-chairs Newton D. Baker, a Protestant, and Professor Carleton J. H. Hayes, a Catholic. In 1929 he proclaimed: “It is now in your hands in the new, less dramatic, but equally difficult warfare, that of the spirit and intellect, to combat the corrosive, brutal theory of materialism, and thereby to serve again our religion, our country and humanity.”
He was co-chair of many conferences held at the new Williamstown Institute of Human Relations. The program of the institute was under the auspices of director Dr. Everett R. Clinchy.
In 1939, Gladys Guggenheim Straus (1895-1980), Roger’s wife, representing New York City, attended this conference whose central theme was “Citizenship and Religion: A Consideration of American Policy with Regard to the Relations of Church and Synagogue to the State.” Roger spoke about the “need for strengthening the moral and spiritual values of the nation’s people as a means for saving democracy in a world fraught with antagonism and false standards.”
Links:
“Roger Williams Straus and Gladys Guggenheim Straus” Straus Historical Society Newsletter Vol. 12 No. 2 (New York: February 2011); pp. 1-6.
http://www.straushistoricalsociety.org/uploads/1/1/8/1/11810298/_________nwsltr211.pdf
In his 22 years as a bus operator, Jefrick Dean has driven every bus route out of the East New York Depot in Brooklyn. On his current route, Dean drives from the depot to downtown Brooklyn and back to the depot eight times a day. He works from 6:30 am to 10:30 am, has a two-hour break, and then works again from 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm. Dean welcomes each passenger who gets on by saying, "Take your time. Welcome aboard," and he has gone so far as to learn to say this in Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew, Haitian Creole and Swahili. He also strives every day to make sure that everyone exits his bus in a better mood than when they entered, and most do.
Bus riders occasionally write or call the NYC Transit Authority to praise a bus operator they view as exemplary. Given the City's bus fleet of 6,000 vehicles that transport an average of 2.7 million riders each week, these "unsolicited commendations" are surprisingly rare. Very few bus operators have accumulated more than a dozen in their careers. Dean has received 132, consistently praised by riders as being, in their words, "extremely special… most extraordinary… compassionate… exemplifies untiring patience … a most shining personality." Dean is the very definition of a civil servant.
Dean became an ordained minister six years ago and has been one of 76 volunteer chaplains serving under Rabbi Harry Berkowitz, the chaplain for the NYC Transit Authority. Rabbi Berkowitz notes, "All of my volunteers are wonderful, but Dean is truly one of the outstanding ones." In 2008, after bus driver Edwin Thomas was murdered by an angry passenger, Dean was "the rock that everybody relied on to get through the grieving."
]]>Bus Operator, New York City Transit Authority
In his 22 years as a bus operator, Jefrick Dean has driven every bus route out of the East New York Depot in Brooklyn. On his current route, Dean drives from the depot to downtown Brooklyn and back to the depot eight times a day. He works from 6:30 am to 10:30 am, has a two-hour break, and then works again from 12:30 pm to 4:30 pm. Dean welcomes each passenger who gets on by saying, "Take your time. Welcome aboard," and he has gone so far as to learn to say this in Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew, Haitian Creole and Swahili. He also strives every day to make sure that everyone exits his bus in a better mood than when they entered, and most do.
Bus riders occasionally write or call the NYC Transit Authority to praise a bus operator they view as exemplary. Given the City's bus fleet of 6,000 vehicles that transport an average of 2.7 million riders each week, these "unsolicited commendations" are surprisingly rare. Very few bus operators have accumulated more than a dozen in their careers. Dean has received 132, consistently praised by riders as being, in their words, "extremely special… most extraordinary… compassionate… exemplifies untiring patience … a most shining personality." Dean is the very definition of a civil servant.
Dean became an ordained minister six years ago and has been one of 76 volunteer chaplains serving under Rabbi Harry Berkowitz, the chaplain for the NYC Transit Authority. Rabbi Berkowitz notes, "All of my volunteers are wonderful, but Dean is truly one of the outstanding ones." In 2008, after bus driver Edwin Thomas was murdered by an angry passenger, Dean was "the rock that everybody relied on to get through the grieving."