Zucker, Louis C., 1895-

Author and professor of English at the University of Utah.

Louis Clement Zucker was born April 10, 1895, to Polish-Jewish immigrant parents in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Pennsylvania where he completed a bachelor of art (1919) and a master of art degree (1920) in English. In 1920, Zucker married Ethel Kaplan and the couple moved to Wisconsin where Zucker was employed as an instructor of English at the University of Wisconsin while he worked on a doctorate degree.

In 1928, Zucker moved to Salt Lake City to accept a position as assistant professor of English at the University of Utah. In addition to his duties as an English professor, he was active in promoting Judaic studies at the university, and taught courses in Hebrew, Yiddish, and Jewish law, literature, and history.

Zucker was well known for his research on the agricultural colony at Clarion, Utah. In 1967, he began collaborating with Juanita Brooks on her research into the history of Jews in Utah, and eventually edited Brooks's book, The History of the Jews in Utah. In 1962, Zucker collaborated with Leroy J. Robertson in translating the Israeli national anthem, Hatikva, into English for the music Robertson had been commissioned to compose by Columbia Recording Studios.

In addition to his academic activities at the University of Utah, Louis Zucker was involved with the local Jewish community. He served as a board member of the Temple B'nai Israel, and as president of the Congregation Montefiore Religious School. Additionally, he was instrumental in the construction of the James L. White Jewish Community Center and a new synagogue in Salt Lake City.

Dr. Zucker was a board member of the Salt Lake Civic Music Association and the Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. He was a charter member of most cultural and artistic organizations in Utah including the Utah Symphony Orchestra, Ballet West, and the Utah Heritage Foundation. Zucker served as secretary of the Utah Conference for Human Welfare, as chair of the humanities section of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, and was a book reviewer for both the Deseret News and the Salt Lake Tribune.

In 1977, Zucker donated funds for the construction of a fountain in Perception Garden at Memory Grove in Salt Lake City, as a memorial to his wife who had died in 1974. The Ethel Zucker Memorial Fountain was completed and dedicated in October 1981, six months before Louis C. Zucker himself passed away.