June Jacobs CBE

ICJW members around the world were very sad to hear of the passing of June Jacobs CBE, who served as President of the International Council of Jewish Women from 1996 – 2002.

Penelope Conway, current President of ICJW, describes June as one of her major influences. “I served with June on the National Alliance of Women’s Organisations and admired her dedicated activism on many issues concerning women’s welfare. She was active in ICJW for many decades, representing us at the United Nations and the UN Commission on the Status of Women. She led the expansion of our organization into Eastern Europe following the fall of Communism. Through her contacts in the Soviet Jewry Campaign, she was able to visit many of the Jewish communities behind the Iron Curtain. She invited the women of these communities to affiliate with ICJW, facilitating their integration into the wider international Jewish community and the sisterhood of Jewish women around the world.”

June remained active in ICJW into her late 80s, attending the ICJW Herczeg Jewish Education Conference in Israel in May 2017, the ICJW Executive Meeting in London in  November 2017, and the 75th Anniversary luncheon of our UK affiliate, the League of Jewish Women, a few weeks before her death at the age of 88. Penelope adds: “June inspired a generation of ICJW leaders around the world and she will be sadly missed. We send our condolences to Keren, Nick and Robin, and to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

A further tribute to June Jacobs from Sharon Shenhav appears here.