Cahnman Foundation Collection

Werner Jacob Cahnmann (later Cahnman) was born in Munich on September 30, 1902 to Sigwart and Hedwig Cahnmann. He studied at universities in Munich and Berlin before settling in Chicago, IL. There he became an established sociologist and lecturing academic. Gisella Levi was born in Torino (Turin), Italy in 1910. She earned a Ph.D. in mathematics and physics from the University of Torino in 1934. After her immigration to the United States, she held a variety of positions in the health research industry, most notably at the Sloan Kettering Institute. She died in 2003.

Ira Harvey Jolles was born on December 12, 1938 in New York City. He is the son of Harry and Hannah Ruth (Rapaport) Jolles. He served several roles in the executive affairs of the Cahnman Foundation, including president and vice president as well as director and secretary of the Board of Directors. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Rashi Foundation, an independent, private philanthropic foundation dedicated to assisting the underprivileged in Israel.

The Cahnman Foundation dedicated its efforts and funding to supporting organizations in their efforts to study and preserve various avenues of Jewish history, architecture, and literature, and to publish texts illuminating Jewish culture and tradition. The foundation supported many small and large organizations including the American Joint Distribution Committee, the World Monuments Fund, the Center for Jewish History, and its affiliate organizations, the American Sephardi Federation and the Leo Baeck Institute. The Foundation ceased its activities and dissolved in 2017.