Max M. Axelrod (February 22, 1911 – March 30, 2004) was a businessman, sports pioneer, and social welfare activist from

Cleveland Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–U.S. maritime border and approximately west of the Ohio-Pennsylvania st ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. He is known for founding the ''

Cleveland Jewish News The ''Cleveland Jewish News'' (the CJN) is a weekly Jewish newspaper headquartered in Beachwood, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland. The newspaper contains local, national, and international news of Jewish interest. History It was formed in 1964. I ...

'' and Lake Forest Country Club and his charitable work with the Jewish Welfare Fund Appeal,

Cleveland State University Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in oper ...

and the

United Negro College Fund UNCF, the United Negro College Fund, also known as the United Fund, is an American philanthropic organization that funds scholarships for black students and general scholarship funds for 37 private historically black colleges and universities. ...

.Levy, David (July 10, 2003)
Cleveland Jewish News

Early life

Axelrod was born in

in 1911 to Russian immigrants Peter and Mary Axelrod. Peter Axelrod founded The Cleveland Dairy, as farming and the production of

kefir Kefir ( ; alternative spellings: kephir or kefier; ; ; ) is a Fermented milk products, fermented milk drink similar to a thin yogurt or ayran that is made from kefir grains, a specific type of mesophilic SCOBY, symbiotic culture. It is prep ...

was the family business in Russia. His great uncle was Russian

Menshevik The Mensheviks ('the Minority') were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. Mensheviks held more moderate and reformist ...

revolutionary Pavel Borisovich Axelrod, the founder of

Pravda ''Pravda'' ( rus, Правда, p=ˈpravdə, a=Ru-правда.ogg, 'Truth') is a Russian broadsheet newspaper, and was the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, when it was one of the most in ...

, the official newspaper of

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and inventor of keifer. Max Axelrod graduated from

Western Reserve University Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US * Western, New York, a town in the US * Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia * Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that ...

during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

with degrees in

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

and

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior, with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been variously described as a science and as the ar ...

. Axelrod served in

WWII World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

with the U.S. Army in

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

and throughout the Middle East, as both a lawyer and an

intelligence officer An intelligence officer is a member of the intelligence field employed by an organization to collect, compile or analyze information (known as intelligence) which is of use to that organization. The word of ''officer'' is a working title, not a r ...

for the US government.

Career

Axelrod founded The Cleveland Concession Co. in 1929 and held concession contracts with venues such as The

Cleveland Municipal Stadium Cleveland Stadium, commonly known as Municipal Stadium, Lakefront Stadium or Cleveland Municipal Stadium, was a multi-purpose stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. It was one of the early multi-purpose stadiums, built to accommodate both baseball and foot ...

, The Cleveland Arena, The Cleveland Convention Center, Old League Park, The Public Auditorium and the Akron Rubber Bowl. He also served concessions at special community events, such as the

Great Lakes Exposition The Great Lakes Exposition (also known as the World Fair of 1936) was held in Cleveland, Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Penn ...

in 1937. For three years, Axelrod was chairman of the Cleveland Boxing Commission and ran the

Cleveland Arena Cleveland Arena was an arena in Cleveland, Ohio. It was built and privately financed by local businessman Albert C. Sutphin during the height of the Great Depression in 1937 as a playing site for Sutphin's AHL team, the Cleveland Barons. The ar ...

. He was an avid supporter of young African-American boxers and legitimized the sport by moving it from underground,

Mafia "Mafia", as an informal or general term, is often used to describe criminal organizations that bear a strong similarity to the Sicilian Mafia, original Mafia in Sicily, to the Italian-American Mafia, or to other Organized crime in Italy, organiz ...

-run warehouses to the Cleveland Arena.RNN Staff (December 19, 201
Jake Lamotta, Inspiration for Raging Bull, dies at 95
Cleveland 19 News. The most notable of these boxing matches was Jake LaMotta vs.

Laurent Dauthuille Laurent Dauthuille (20 February 1924 – 10 July 1971) was a French boxer. Arriving in Montreal in the late 1940s, he was nicknamed the ''Tarzan of Buzenval.'' During his career Dauthuille beat notable fighters such as Jake LaMotta, Steve B ...

in 1950. The fight was profiled in the 1980 film ''

Raging Bull ''Raging Bull'' is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Cathy Moriarty, Theresa Saldana, Frank Vincent and Nicholas Colasanto (in his final film role). The film ...

''. He bought several delicatessens in Cleveland, most famously the New Yorker Deli on Chester Avenue. In the 1960s, Axelrod partnered with

Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. They are one ...

owner

George Steinbrenner George Michael Steinbrenner III (July 4, 1930July 13, 2010) was an American businessman who was the principal owner and managing partner of Major League Baseball's New York Yankees from 1973 until his death in 2010. He was the longest-serving own ...

in an attempt to buy the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

. The pair also worked together to restart the Cleveland Air Show in 1964. Axelrod founded and later served as president of Lake Forest Country Club in

Hudson, Ohio Hudson is a city in northern Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,110 at the 2020 census. It is a suburban community in the Akron metropolitan area. John Brown made his first public vow to destroy slavery here and the ci ...

. Prior to WWII, country clubs didn't allow Jews or African-Americans to join, so Axelrod created his own that did not discriminate in employment or membership.

Jewish Community activism

In the late 1950s Axelrod began his social welfare and charitable work in the Cleveland area. He became a lifelong trustee of the

Jewish Federation The Jewish Federation (JFED) is a secular Jewish non-profit organization found within many metropolitan areas across the United States with a significant Jewish community. They provide supportive and human services, philanthropy, financial grants ...

of Cleveland. In 1972 he headed the Jewish Welfare Fund Appeal, helping to raise millions and making numerous trips to

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

to serve on the board of the

National Conference of Christians and Jews The National Conference for Community and Justice is an American social justice organization focused on fighting biases and promoting understanding between people of different races and cultures. The organization was founded in 1927 as the Natio ...

. Together with Lloyd Schwenger and several other Cleveland community leaders, Axelrod founded the ''

'' in 1964 and served as the paper's first president. Max is listed as "President Emeritus" in the papers history.

Legacy

Following his death in 2004, Axelrod's daughter Lisa Axelrod fulfilled his wishes by scattering his ashes below what was remaining of the wall of Old League Park in a private ceremony. Max wanted his final resting place to be where his business and love of the game first started. The City of Cleveland reopened the Old League Park to the public on August 23, 2014 as the Baseball Heritage Museum and Fannie Lewis Community Park at League Park.Tim Warinskey, "League Park reopens to a historic appreciation, beautiful restoration and hopeful future". (August 24, 2014
League Park Reopens
City of Cleveland Website. It features murals of the great Cleveland League and Negro league players who worked with Axelrod.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Axelrod, Max 1911 births Businesspeople from Cleveland 20th-century American Jews American people of Russian-Jewish descent 2004 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American Jews