Chasing The Cure

Fannie Eller Lorber (1881-1958) was a popular choice for president of the Sheltering Home, an office she would hold until her death in 1958. Fannie Lorber often bridged the divide between the German and Russian Jews. Money for the institution was collected by a band of dedicated volunteers and Mrs. Lorber and Mrs. Willens often traveled the city together in a horse and buggy. Mrs. Willens drove while Fannie, who spoke better English, made the “pitch” to American born contributors. As one Sheltering Home administrator later recalled, “Whatever Fannie wanted, Fannie got…she was a very dynamic person, even though she spoke with a heavy Yiddish accent.” For many years Bessie Willens proudly proclaimed, “I made Mrs. Lorber for president.” The Fannie Eller Lorber Papers, B272, illustrate the life of a remarkable woman.

Mrs. Lorber, whose business and organizational talents became legendary, helped create a network of women’s auxiliaries that boasted over 100,000 members nationally at the time of her death. She often pointed out that “the cause of the child is the cause of humanity. In the tradition of Judaism the cause of the underprivileged child has always been placed at the head of every charity and philanthropy.”