Southern Jewish Mayors Throughout History

We are working to build a list of all Jewish mayors who have served in Southern towns. If you know of any Southern Jewish mayors who should be added to this list, please email our historian.

Alabama

Demopolis                    Moris Ely                               1905
                                      Isidore Bley                            Dates unknown

Madison                        Ann van Leeuwen                  1990-1992

Mobile                           Lazaurs Schwarz                   1911-1915
                                      Leon Schwarz                        1926, 1932, 1933

Montgomery                 Mordecai Moses                    1875-1881
                                      Henry Faber                           1870-1875

Pollard                          Nathan Strauss                      Late 19th century

Selma                            Simon Maas                           1887-1889
                                       Marcus Meyer                        1895-1899
                                       Louis Benish                          1915-1920          

Sheffield                       Albery Moses                          1885
                                    


Arkansas

Dumas                          Gus Waterman                           1904                The town's very first mayor
                                      Charles Dante                            1920s

Dermott                        David Kimpel                              1897-1898

El Dorado                     Irving Leon Pesses                    1967-1975        Re-election campaign slogan: “Izzy’s Been Busy”

Little Rock                  Jonas Levy                                  1860-1864
                                     Frederick Kramer                        1873-1875; 1881-1887 

Helena                         Aaron Meyers                              1878-1880           
                                    Jacob Fink                                    1906

Holly Grove                Ralph Abramson                          1947-1958

Pine Bluff                   Simon Bloom                                1900-1912

West Memphis           Kent Rubens 
                                      
  

Florida

Gulf Breeze                 Beverly H. Zimmern                     2009-Present

Pensacola                   Adolph Greenhut                          1913-1916
                                     Max Bear                                      1937-1939
                                     B.I. Greenhut                                1965-1967            Adolph Greenhut’s son        


Georgia

Alma Nathan Cohen Elected 1960 – born in Poland; came to US in 1913.  Started out as peddler in rural Georgia.  Opened his own store in 1924.  Active in local Chamber of Commerce, Lions Club, Shriners, and Masons.  Elected in 1960 with 90% of the vote.
Atlanta Sam Massell, Jr. 1969-1973
Athens Heidi Davidson Elected in 2002.
Bainbridge Max Nussbaum 1920-1921
Columbus  Jacob I. Moses He served Columbus in 1844. He is one of the Confederate soldiers who was buried at the historic Linwood Cemetery in Columbus. The Jewish section of this cemetery is maintained by Temple Israel and there is a marker designating the section.
Eastman Elias Hermann  
Dublin Jefferson Davis Hermann 1909-1910
  Solomon Hermann (His brother) succeeded him
Sandy Spring Eva Galambos  
Savannah Herman Myers 1895-1897; 1899-1907
  Susan Weiner 1992-1995
Sandersville Louis Cohen 1887

Kentucky

Ashland Clyde Levi 1944-1947
  David Aronberg 1952-1955, 1960-1964
Somerset Abraham Wolf 1921-1923
Middlesboro Isaac Ginsberg 1933-1935
Central City W.J. Hirschberg 1933-1935
Paducah Meyer Weil 1871-1875, 1877-1881
Louisville Jerry Abramson (1985-1998; 2003 - 2011 ) He served initially from 1985-1998 when he left office because of term limits.  During that period he served as President of the United States Conference of Mayors and in that capacity accompanied President Bill Clinton to the funeral of Yitzhak Rabin.  He ran for re-election in 2003, winning by a huge margin.
Shelbyville Leon Rothchild 1912-1922

Louisiana

Alexandria Edward Weil 1875-1876
Donaldsonville Myer Lemann 1881
  Marx Schoenberg 1870 - killed during dispute over ballots
  Solomon Weinschenck 1872; 1874
  David Israel  
  Walter Lemann 1912
Haughton
(close to Shreveport)		 Henry Bodenheimer 1885-1887
Was the town’s first mayor, elected with 98 out of 148 votes.
Lake Charles Adolph Meyer 1874-1888
Lake Providence Eliaz Stockner  
Mandeville Naphthalie Levy 1872-1873
Monroe Arnold Bernstein 1918-1937
Morgan City M.E. Norman Was mayor of Morgan City, LA. in the late 1920's or early 1930's.  Also several Jews served on the city council of that era in Morgan City, including Sol Loeb and Henry Loeb.
Napoleonville

Solomon Klotz

Samuel Klotz

1922-1931

1939-1945
Shreveport
Had several Jewish mayors		 Samuel Levy Mayor for four months in 1873.  He was born in France.  He was appointed mayor pro tem by the governor during the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1873.  He had been administrator of city finance (an elected position) previously.  An election was held on December 22, 1873, which brought his term to an end.
  Ben Holzman 1900-1902
Was born in Germany in 1844.  Came to the US in 1857; Civil War veteran – was a gunner on the Merrimac!  Lived in DC after the war; was reportedly in audience when Lincoln was assasinated.  One of the organizers and presidents of B’nai Zion and local B’nai B’rith chapter.  First president of the Hebrew Relief Society of Shreveport.  Kitty Carlisle was his granddaughter.
  Ernest Bernstein 1906-1908; born in Baton Rouge in 1868.  Married Fannie Hirsch of Vicksburg in 1908.  Had been a city alderman.  Regional president of IOBB; VP of Bnai Zion.
South Highlands Village Emmanuel Mahne Bodenheimer 1920’s.  Was the only mayor of this area, which was incorporated into Shreveport in 1927.
Vidalia Lewis Arnheim 1869-1871
Waterproof A.G. Yamer Mayor in 1878

Mississippi

Alligator Robert Kaplan  
Greenville Jacob Alexander 1881
  Leopold Wilcinski 1875
Vicksburg Lawrence Leyens  
Brookhaven Abraham Lewinthal 1889
  Sam Abrams, Harold Samuels 1977-1985
Yazoo City Harry Applebaum 1954-1960
Hazlehurst Paul Kemp  
Jonestown Sam Friedman 1938-1942
Natchez Isaac Lowenberg 1882-1886
  Saul Laub 1929-1936
Rolling Fork Sam Rosenthal 1929-1969; raised in Natchez.
Meridian Alfred Rosenbaum 1977-1985

Port Gibson

 Simon Unger 1891-1898
Pace Mose Hyman  

Shaw

 Jacob Cohen 1892-1897
Shuqualak Julius Yaretzky  
Summit Solomon Hyman (town’s first mayor)  
Louise William Sklar “Mayor for Life” served for 25 years, often ran unopposed; retired in the early 1970’s.  He died in 1974.
Rosedale M.J. Dattel  
Glendora Nutty Moyer; Harold Moyer  

North Carolina

Asheville Kenneth Michalove  
Chapel Hill Ken Broun Elected in 1991
Durham Mutt Evans 1951-1963
Elizabethtown Wallace Leinwand 1990s
Fayetteville Monroe Evans (Mutt’s brother) Elected in 1965
Greensboro Ben Cone 1949-1951
Gastonia Leon Schneider  
Hendersonville Don Michalove  
Holly Ridge Alfred Popkin  
Lumberton David Weinstein 1980s
Morganton Mel Cohen 1985 -
Tarboro Henry Morris 1880s
Wilmington Solomon Fishblate 1878-1882
  Bill Schwartz 1980s
  B.D. Schwartz Elected in 1972

Oklahoma

Cordell

J.J. Aberson (mayor three times)

  
Enid Joseph Meibergen 1897-1901
Perry Frederick Kretsch Served four terms. Elected in 1915, 1917, 1931, 1937.
Sayre Leo Meyer  
Seminole Melvin Moran Elected in 1975
Stroud Jacob Smulian 1912-1914

South Carolina

Abbeville Joseph Savitz, Sr. 1950’s – 1970’s
Clover Herbert Hirsch  
Columbia Mordecai De Leon 1833-1836
  Henry Lyons 1850-1855
  Abraham Alexander 1897-1899
  Oscar Alexander 1931-1937
Barnwell Herman Mazursky 1938-1970
Florence John Kuker 1870s
Greenville Max Heller Elected in 1971
Georgetown   Five Jewish mayors in the 19th century; three before 1818, and several more since then.
Lake City Henry Nachman  
Spartanburg William Barnet III Current mayor as of 1/2005

Tennessee

Chattanooga George Washington Ochs-Oaks (brother of Adolph Ochs) 1895-1899
  Joseph Wasserman 1899-1901
  Andy Berke elected 2013
Memphis Henry Loeb 1960’s
Moscow Phil Bacharach Late 1920’s, early 1930’s
North Knoxville L.A. Gratz Elected in 1870

Texas

Alto Fred Florence 1919
Amarillo Kel Seliger 1993-2001
Austin Jeffrey Friedman Elected 1975 at age 30
Beaumont Maury Meyers 1978-1982; 1986-1988
Brownsville Benjamin Kowalski 1912-1914
  Ruben Edelstein 1975-1979
Calvert Gerson Bedach 1931
Colorado City H.I. Berman late 1950s. early 1960s
Corpus Christi Albert .Lichtenstein 1953-1954
Corsicana Gus Gappelberg 1991-1993
Dallas Adlene Harrison 1976
  Annette Strauss 1987-1991
  Laura Miller Elected 2002
Dalworthington Gardens Albert Taub 1986-2006
Dickinson Veta Winick 1990’s
Dublin Morris Hoffman 1949-1959
Eagle Pass Samuel Schwartz  
El Paso Solomon Schutz 1880-1881
  Adolph Krakauer 1889 – had to resign after two months when it was discovered that he was not yet a citizen
  Adolph Solomon 1893-1894
Fort Worth Bayard Friedman 1963-1965
Galveston Michael Seeligson 1853
  Isaac Kempner 1917-1919
  Adrian Levy 1935-1939
  Barbara Crews 1989
  Eddie Schreiber  
Henderson Moses H. Marwil elected in 1936; served two terms
Jefferson I.L. Goldberg  
  Ben Bloomingdale  
Kaufman Dr. Milton Davis 1989-1991
Lockhart Sam Glosserman  
Longview G.A. Bodenheim 1904-1916; 1918-1920
Luling Ben Jacobs Elected 1936
Owned an insurance firm.  His family had deep roots in town, going back to its founding.  His father was the oldest living settler in Luling.  Ben headed the local PWA work, was president of the Luling Charity Association and the local Red Cross.  He was president of the local Retail Merchants Association and commander of the American Legion Post.
Marshall Louis Kariel 1935-1947
  Audrey Kariel (His daughter-in-law; 1994-2001)
Missouri City Jerry Motley  
Padre Island Minnie Solomonson 1982-1986
Plano Florence Shapiro 1989
Rosenberg Henry Wertheimer  
San Saba Harry Shapiro  
Schulenberg Michael C. Levey

Born in France Jan 15 1836, was the third mayor of

Schulenburg, elected in 1883. He served as postmaster in Moulton and in 1862

Enlisted in the Confederate Army as a member of Dashiell's battery of light

Artillery and served to the end of the war. Levey served three terms as

Mayor (six years) from 1883 to 1889. He died in 1923.
  Hirsh Schwartz

Mayor of Schulenburg in 1964 and served until his

Death in 1981. Born 1909 in Schulenburg to Julius and Helen Straus Schwartz,

He was an attorney and banker.
Sherman William Levy  
  Jake Levy  
Temple Augustus Lewy 1880’s – later served as DA of San Antonio
Waco A.M. Goldstein  
Weimar Davis Gindler 1978-1982
Wichita Falls Max Kruger  
Yoakum Sam Lewis elected in 1900
Ysleta I. Berg  

Virginia

Alexandria Henry Strauss 1891-1897
  Lewis Stein 1915
  Leroy Bendheim 1957
Danville Samuel Kushner  
Falls Church Herman Funk  
  Nader Baroukh 2010-2012
Harrisonburg Lawrence Loewner 1948-1955
Lynchburg Michael Gillette 2012
Newport News Harry Reyner 1930-1932
  Joe Frank 1996-2010
Richmond Solomon Jacobs 1818-1819, acting mayor
Virginia Beach Meyera Ellenson Oberndorf 1988-2008
recognized by Newsweek as one of the best mayors in America.
Winchester Charles Zuckerman 1980s