Isaiah Leo Kenen, 1905-1988

Isaiah Leo (Si) Kenen (ILK) was born in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada on March 7, 1905, the only child of Emanuel Isaac and Rebecca Friedberg Kenen. The family (which includes ILK’s four elder half-sisters), all ardent Zionists, moved to Toronto in 1911. In 1917, at the suggestion of house-guest Henrietta Szold, the founder of Hadassah, ILK helped organize the first Young Judea chapter in Toronto. He went on to earn a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto in 1925 and an L.L.B. from Cleveland Law School in 1940.

ILK began his career in journalism as a contributor to various Toronto newspapers as an undergraduate, and as a reporter for the Toronto Star in 1925-1926. In 1926, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio, to write for the Cleveland News. While living in Cleveland, ILK was active in the Jewish community as a Sunday school teacher at the Euclid Avenue Temple, 1929-1943; as Chairman of the Cleveland Jewish Welfare Federation Public Relations Committee, 1933-1943; and as president of the Cleveland Zionist District, 1940-1943. ILK was also a founder, in 1933, of the first Cleveland local of the American Newspaper Guild (ANG). He served as chairman of the first, and subsequent five, ANG Constitution Committees; as president of the Cleveland ANG in 1937; and as an international vice president of the ANG, 1938-1940. In addition, ILK was a correspondent for the Cincinnati Inquirer (1930-40), and the Editor (1933-1936) of The City, the newspaper of the Cleveland City Club.

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