Benjamin Bacharach

BACHARACH, family of business, political, and communal leaders in Atlantic City, New Jersey. BENJAMIN (1865–1936) was a local merchant and banker. Born in Philadelphia, he and his brothers Isaac and Harry were brought to Atlantic City in 1881 by their parents. Benjamin served as president of the Beth Israel Synagogue of Atlantic City, in which the entire family was active. ISAAC (1870–1956) was a businessman and banker who pursued a political career. After serving on the Atlantic City Council (1907–13), Isaac, a Republican, was elected to the State Assembly in 1911 and in 1915 to Congress, where he represented the Second District of New Jersey until 1936. A member of the House Ways and Means Committee, Bacharach wrote the 1931 act providing for emergency loans based on the value of insurance policies. HARRY (1873–1947), a Republican, was appointed postmaster by President McKinley (1901) and was reappointed by President Roosevelt in 1905 and 1909. He won elections as mayor of Atlantic City in 1911, 1916, and 1932. He served for many years as member and chairman of the New Jersey Public Utilities Commission and as a member of the Water Policy Commission. He was also active in local banking, real estate, and civic affairs, and was a founder of the Jewish Community Center of Atlantic City (1924–25). The Betty Bacharach Home for Afflicted Children (Longport, New Jersey) was founded by the Bacharach brothers and two sisters in 1924 in memory of their mother.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Biographical Directory of the American Congress (1961); Philip R. Goldstein, Centers in My Life (1964), 76, 159.

[Joseph Brandes]

Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved. From http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/bacharach-2