Matenko, Percy, 1901-

Percy Matenko was born in Ekaterinoslav (now Dnepropetrovsk), Russia, in 1901. He was the son of Isaac (founder and principal of first Yiddish school in Canada) and Helen (Moskowitch) Matenko. The family immigrated to Canada via Ellis Island in 1906. Percy immigrated to the US in 1925, where he taught German at Columbia University, Brooklyn College and Hunter College. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1933. In 1939, he married Natalie Ruben. In 1937, he became a professor at Brooklyn College, where he introduced Yiddish. He published extensively on Ludwig Tieck and also contributed to to the Encyclopedia of Literature, the Encyclopedia Americana, the Great Dictionary of the Yiddish Language, and to yearbooks. He retired in 1974 and died in Brooklyn in 1987.

From the guide to the Percy Matenko Collection, 1964-1974, (Leo Baeck Institute)

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