NEW YORK – Mervyn Smith, a longtime leader of the South African Jewish community and member of the World Jewish Congress Executive, passed away Saturday at the age of 77. Smith was the founder of the African Jewish Congress, which he led for over two decades.
A vice-president of the World Jewish Congress from 2009 to 2013 and since then the co-chairman of the WJC Policy Council, Mervyn Smith was actively involved in a number of international efforts, notably the quest for restitution of looted Jewish property. He also served as a director of the Conference of Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
WJC President Ronald S. Lauder declared: “Mervyn’s dedication to the Jewish cause, his intellectual lucidity and his wit will be greatly missed not just at the World Jewish Congress, and we have lost an outstanding Jewish leader and a good friend. Together with Rabbi Moshe Silberhaft, he was a great champion of the small Jewish communities in southern Africa, and it will be hard to fill the void. Our heartfelt condolences go to his children and grandchildren. May his memory be a blessing!”
In his native South Africa, the practicing attorney Smith was the first person from Cape Town in 100 years to be elected national chairman of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies. It was largely thanks to his efforts that the Board adopted a resolution at its conference in 1985 condemning the apartheid system.
Mervyn Smith was also chairman of the Board of Trustees of the South African Holocaust Foundation.
