Abraham Foxman

Abraham Henry Foxman was born on May 1, 1940, in Baranovichi, Poland — now Belarus — to Yelena and Iosif Fuksman, Polish Jewish parents whose world was already shadowing under the advance of Nazi occupation. Before he was old enough to speak in full sentences, the war had already written his story in extraordinary terms. At age two, his parents entrusted him to their Polish Catholic nanny, Bronisława Kurpi, who baptized him as Henryk Stanisław Kurpi and raised him as a Catholic child to hide his Jewish identity. "She risked her life. She saved my life," Foxman would say of her for the rest of his days. His parents survived and reclaimed him in 1944, though fourteen members of their extended family did not survive the Holocaust. In 1950, the family emigrated to the United States, settling in New York. Foxman attended the Yeshiva of Flatbush and went on to earn a B.A. in political science with honors from the City College of New York. He earned his J.D. from New York University School of Law and pursued graduate study at the Jewish Theological Seminary and The New School. In 1965, he joined the Anti-Defamation League as a legal assistant — and never left. Over five decades at the ADL, Foxman rose through the ranks of international affairs and Middle Eastern affairs before being named National Director in 1987, a post he would hold for 28 years. Under his leadership, the ADL was transformed from a division of B'nai Brith into a muscular, independent institution running anti-bias educational programs, monitoring antisemitism across the globe, and advocating for anti-discrimination legislation. He counseled U.S. presidents, met with popes, and engaged world leaders from Moscow to Riyadh to Tokyo. He was appointed to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Council by four presidents — Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and Biden. Foxman believed deeply that the Holocaust began not with gas chambers, but with words — and that principle drove his life's work. He championed interfaith dialogue, immigrant rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and civil rights education, understanding that bigotry toward any group ultimately threatened all. France honored him with the Legion of Honor in 2006. After retiring in 2015, he continued to speak out. He was, until the end, a voice the world needed. Abraham Foxman died in Manhattan on May 10, 2026, at age 86. He is survived by his wife, Golda, his children Michelle and Ariel, son-in-law Brandon, and four grandchildren: Cielo, Leila, Gideon, and Amirit.