Vale Jack Smorgon
Jack Smorgon AO, who chaired UIA Victoria's campaign for more than a decade and visited Israel more than 70 times, has died aged 89.
When Carlton runs out against St Kilda at Marvel Stadium on Sunday, in the AFLW season opener at 4.35pm and again in the men’s match at 7.20pm, players will wear black armbands.
The club is honouring Jack Smorgon, Foundation Member of the Carltonians, long-serving member of the Carlton Coterie and Life Member of the Carlton Football Club, who has died at the age of 89.
That a footy club should be among the first to mourn him says much about the man. Smorgon was a passionate Zionist who visited Israel more than 70 times, and he was every inch an Australian, a Blues man and a supporter of Army reservists.
For more than a quarter of a century he stood at the centre of Australian Jewry’s partnership with Israel. He chaired the United Israel Appeal’s Victorian campaign from 1994 to 2006, served six years as president of UIA Australia, and later became its honorary president.
He sat for many years on the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Board of Governors, where he chaired the Activism and Partnerships Committee, helping direct Keren Hayesod funds raised across the world to the Israeli communities that needed them most.
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