H eadlines
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president, adopted an unprece-
dented statement warning that
Israel’s failure to divest itself of
the West Bank and the Gaza
Strip would eventually force
it to choose between being a
Jewish state and a democracy.

Siegel said Mann, who
lost numerous relatives to
the Holocaust, thought it was
worth giving up land to save
Jewish lives.

“He really did care about
every Jew,” Siegel said, adding
that Mann pushed for others
to be involved with the Jewish
community. “Nobody wanted
to say ‘no’ to Ted Mann.”
The Washington Post,
among other publications,
published obituaries of Mann,
who was almost better known
outside of Philadelphia than
within it. The Post quoted Rabbi
David Saperstein, director
emeritus of the Religious
Action Center of Reform
Judaism, talking about Mann’s
inf luence: “When others
were challenging the right of
American Jews holding dovish
views on Israel-Palestinian
issues to speak out publicly
in criticism of Israeli policy,”
Saperstein said, “Ted helped
lead the argument asserting
12 DECEMBER 24, 2020
not only the moral right but
moral obligation of critics to
speak out.”
As chairman of the
Conference of Presidents
of Major American Jewish
Organizations, Mann flew with
then-Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin to Egypt to
celebrate the signing of a peace
treaty with the country, later
falling asleep during a belly
dance show.

Mann also chaired the
Israel Policy Forum, launched
Project Nishma to support
the Israeli-Palestinian peace
process, was a trustee at the
New Israel Fund, was involved
with the Jewish Council for
Public Affairs and the National
Conference on Soviet Jewry,
and was the founding chairman
of Mazon: A Jewish Response
to Hunger in 1985. In 2012, he
published a memoir entitled “If
I Am Only for Myself.”
“He was at the forefront of
social justice in the country
generally, and certainly in the
Jewish community,” Abby J.

Leibman, Mazon’s president
and CEO, told the Post. “You
felt that from the moment you
were in his presence. There
was a force of both passion
and compassion that emanated
from him in everything he said
or expressed.”
Legal lion Theodore “Ted” Mann died of COVID-19 last week.
Born in Czechoslovakia in
1928, Mann came to the U.S.

as a baby. He served in the
U.S. Army and later earned
a law degree from Temple
University. He argued several
religious freedom cases before
the U.S. Supreme Court.

Mann was one of the
founding partners of Mann,
Ungar, Spector & Labovitz,
which focused on complex
commercial litigation, though
he also collaborated on friend
of the court briefs regarding
First Amendment cases,
former partner Marc J. Zucker
wrote in an email.

Those cases included the
early portions of Abington
School District v. Schempp,
a 1963 case where the court
ruled 8-1 that it was unconsti-
tutional for a school to sponsor
Bible readings.

“It was an honor to practice
law with Ted, trying cases
together and formulating
strategy. He was a brilliant
litigator, a forceful advocate
and a true mentor to me,”
Zucker wrote. “He had an
intuitive understanding of
human nature, a keen business
acumen and was a terrific
storyteller — all great assets as
a commercial litigator.”
“He was a fabulous lawyer,”
fellow law partner Barry Ungar
said, adding that in 31 years of
JEWISH EXPONENT
their partnership, they never
had a major disagreement. “I
learned my craft from him.”
Ungar said Mann demon-
strated unwavering integrity.

When Mann was asked to serve
a two-year term to lead the
Conference of Presidents, he
made sure to clear it first with
Ungar, his sole partner then,
because he was worried about
the potential revenue loss from
having to split his time.

Mann also was witness to
numerous historical events,
which he related in Jewish
Exponent articles.

Mann recounted in a 2013
article how he was present
during Dr. Martin Luther
King’s iconic “I Have a Dream”
speech in Washington, D.C.,
in August 1963, but didn’t
hear a word. He was near the
stage by the Lincoln Memorial
listening to Rabbi Joachim
Prinz who spoke right before
King. But Mann fainted from
the heat.

“Somehow, the people that
ran the enormous event got
a stretcher into this phenom-
enal crowd,” he said. “I was
really pissed off. King’s speech
turned out to be everything. It
was a great occasion.”
The following year, upon
the death of Ariel Sharon,
Mann detailed his 1979 inter-
action with the former Israeli
Photo via JTA
prime minister. At the time,
Sharon was Israel’s agriculture
minister, while Mann chaired
the Conference of Presidents
of Major Jewish Organizations
— and opposed Jewish settle-
ments in the West Bank and
Gaza. Sharon wanted him to
change his viewpoint.

“He never took no for an
answer,” Mann said of Sharon.

“He flew us around in his
helicopter to the various settle-
ments he wanted us to see.”
One of Mann’s daughters,
Julie, said that her father was
modest about his accom-
plishments and allowed his
children to pursue their own
interests. Mann was inquisitive
in conversation, and loved to
laugh. “As somebody said in the
shiva, he led several different
lives,” Julie Mann said. “And
he really gave his full self to all
of them.

Mann is survived by daugh-
ters Julie Mann (Ernie Cohen)
of Wyncote and Rachel Mann
of Philadelphia, son Marcus
Mann of Philadelphia, two
grandchildren and three
great-grandchildren. Additional reporting by Ben
Harris for JTA l
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