Maynard I. Wishner (1923-2011) was an American financier and former actor in the

Yiddish theater Yiddish theatre consists of plays written and performed primarily by Jews in Yiddish, the language of the Ashkenazi Jewish community. The range of Yiddish theatre is broad: operetta, musical comedy, and satiric or nostalgic revues; melodrama; na ...

from

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. Wishner was born and grew up in Chicago. He graduated from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

in 1945, and obtained a J.D. from the same institution in 1947. From 1947 to 1952, Wishner worked for the Chicago Mayor's Commission on Human Relations, as head of the commission's department of law and order and then as acting director. He was then appointed chief city prosecutor for the city's Law Department. He was an attorney with the firm of Cole, Wishner, Epstein & Manilow before joining Walter E. Heller & Co., a finance company, where he eventually served as president and chief operating officer. He retired in 1985. Wishner was Jewish and served as the National President of the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a civil rights group and Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the wi ...

in 1980–1983, President of the Council of Jewish Federations, and Chairman of the

Jewish United Fund The Jewish United Fund of Chicago (JUF) is the central philanthropic address of Chicago's Jewish community and one of the largest not-for-profit social welfare institutions in Illinois. JUF provides critical resources that bring food, refuge, he ...

. He was a president of what is now the

Jewish Federations of North America The Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA), formerly the United Jewish Communities (UJC), is an American Jewish umbrella organization for the Jewish Federations system, representing over 350 independent Jewish communities across North Ameri ...

and chaired what is now the

Jewish Council for Public Affairs The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) is an American Jewish progressive and advocacy group. JCPA was originally founded in 1944 by the Council of Jewish Federations as the umbrella organization for local Jewish advocacy arms known as ...

. He also held prominent positions in the Chicago Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation, the

Jewish Community Relations Council A Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) is a locally based Jewish public affairs organization that carries out "action agendas on behalf of and in the name of the local Jewish communities." Councils may aim "to represent the consensus of the or ...

, and Jewish Family and Community Service. Wishner died in 2011.

References

1923 births 2011 deaths University of Chicago alumni 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews Presidents of the American Jewish Committee Yiddish theatre performers {{US-business-bio-stub