Epstein, Abraham, 1892-1942

Research Director, Pennsylvania Commission on Old Age Pensions, 1918-1921 and 1923-1927; Executive Secretary, American Association for Social Security, 1927-1942.

Public officer, scholar, and specialist in social and old age security.

BIOGHIST REQUIRED Research Director, Pennsylvania Commission on Old Age Pensions, 1918-1921 and 1923-1927; Executive Secretary, American Association for Social Security, 1927-1942.

Executive secretary of the American Association for Old Age Security (name later changed to American Association for Social Security.).

Abraham Epstein was born in Liubarn, Russia, in 1892, and immigrated to the United States in 1910. After graduation from the University of Pittsburgh in 1917 and work on his masters degree at Columbia University, he embarked upon a lifelong crusade for enactment of adequate old age, unemployment, and health insurance programs.

After six years with the Pennsylvania Commission on Old Age Pensions, and three with the Fraternal Order of the Eagles (during which he worked with the aged), Epstein became a founding member and executive secretary of the American Association for old Age Security (AAOSS). Epstein and the organization, which changed its name to the American Association for Social Security (AASS) in 1933, conducted a tireless campaign on behalf of the elderly poor and unemployed worker, and were a contributing factor in the passage, in 1935, of the Social Security Act. Thereafter, Epstein, who was critical of the limitations of the act, constantly prodded and worked for improvements in it, and strove for a social insurance program that meant "social safety for Americans."

In addition to his work with the AASS, Epstein was a noted lecturer and author, and taught for many years at Brooklyn College and New York University. He died after a short illness in 1942, at the age of fifty. He was survived by his wife, Henrietta.