Albert Lazarus Benjamin (b 1913)

Not to be confused with Albert Lazarus Benjamin (born 1909)

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Albert Lazarus Benjamin (born 1913, died 1993 Glasgow Martha St.) was a Glasgow based Zionist activist and journalist from as early as the early 1950s.

His mother's maiden name was Sachs. He married Eva Trotsky Benjamin (nee Ross) in Cathcart in 1948.

The Jewish Chronicle obituary:

Ezra Golombok, editor of the former Glasgow Jewish Echo, writes: Albert Benjamin, whose death was reported last week, was the mainstay of reporting for Glasgow's Jewish Echo for decades. I cannot recall his not being, there in all the 40-plus years that I edited the paper. In all that time, there was never an occasion when he failed to be both polite and discreet. His reporting was detailed and accurate, backed up with a fluent shorthand, and he undertook any assignment with good humour, even if it was inconvenient for him. He and his wife, Eva, operated as a formidable team. They would cover anything from a school prize-giving or reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to an in-depth political interview.

Although invariably gentle and diffident in public, Albert Benjamin held strong views on local and Israeli politics. On the rare occasions when he dropped his guard to me, he had some pungent, but not unkind, observations on parochial behaviour. He was also the local correspondent for the JC and it was typical that, only a month or two ago, he brightly reported, with deadpan humour, on a show of very dubious content mounted in aid of a Jewish charity. He was a well-known figure at local events and took his share of communal responsibility. Well liked as he was, it seemed to me that he and his conscientious labours in recording the activities of a once major community went largely unrecognised, except by other newspapermen.

Only when he and Eva attended international Jewish conferences in Israel, representing the Echo, did he receive plaudits from colleagues, which were clearly a source of gratification to him.

Harvey Livingston, president of the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council, writes: Albert Benjamin was well known and respected through-out the Glasgow Jewish community. His knowledge of, and dedication to, our community went far beyond his role of regional correspondent for the JC, and reporter with his devoted wife Eva for the Jewish Echo for three decades. He was an active and attentive member of the media committee of the Representative Council, using his vast experience to assist in the handling of many sensitive issues. Elected for many years to the executive committee, he would listen careful to every point of view before venturing his own well-considered and pertinent contribution. Modest and unassuming, with clarity of vision and thought undoubtedly formed by his previous occupation as financial administrator for a firm of financial retailers, he was regarded with respect and affection by all.

Timeline

• Albert Lazaraus Benjamin (b 1913) - Journalist for the Jewish Echo and the Jewish Chronicle
  • 1953 - appointed Public Relations Committee of the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council, 1953.
  • 1957 - Member of Executive Committee GJRC, 1957.
  • 1976 - Glasgow based journalist for the Jewish Chronicle.

It is possible that he was also:

• A. Benjamin - Hon Finance at Odessa Lodge of the Grand Order of Israel and the Shield of David, 1940;
• A. Benjamin Hon Treasurer of the Glasgow Poale Zion 1951.
• Albert L. Benjamin, Treasurer, Glasgow Poale Zion 1957. |

Family

Parents:

• Charles Benjamin (Painters Warehouseman), Gorbals | Polly Benjamin

Brothers:

• Marks Benjamin (b 1915)
• Jacob Benzie Benjamin (b 1910)
• Albert Lazarus Benjamin (b 1913)