Harry Bodansky will be remembered as one of the most active presidents of the Seaboard Region, and he also held multiple positions at Adas Israel Congregation and in its Men’s Club.

He was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1919.  In an effort to flee the Nazis, the family moved to Vienna in 1935.  Shortly after beginning his studies at the University of Vienna, Harry (age 19) and his younger brother were able to come to the U.S., arriving in 1938.  He graduated from the City College of New York and received his Masters degree in Economics from Columbia, focusing on international economics and finance.  Attending classes at night, Harry worked during the day, first sewing women’s handbags and then serving as the economic and finance reporter for the German language newspaper, the “Aufbau”.  He came to Washington in 1953 to work as an economist at the Department of Commerce and became the senior economist in the Industry and Trade Administration at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he was the author of numerous reports, studies, and articles.

Harry was elected President of the Adas Israel Men’s Club in 1978 after more than a decade holding other club offices, and he was re-elected in 1980.  His legacy there was the creation of the Amuday Torah (“Pillars of Learning”) fund-raiser, which raised thousands of dollars for the congregation’s religious school.  He went on to be elected president of the Seaboard Region in 1985.  Harry had the vision to create the region’s first so-called Mini-Convention in Virginia Beach, which was the precursor of the region’s retreat currently held biennially.

He held multiple positions on the congregation’s Board of Managers and served as president of the Washington Center for the Handicapped.  He played a major role in “mainstreaming” the handicapped into area scouting programs.  He also served on the Board of the Hebrew Home and on the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington.

He was married to Lony, who predeceased him by nearly four decades, and they had two sons.  Harry died in 2009 – a true pillar of the Seaboard Region and of the Jewish community.