Joseph Brender – a pillar of Sydney’s Jewish community
Philanthropist Joseph Brender was not only a major donor to charities in Australia but was also a serious worker for causes in which he believed.
Joseph BRENDER
He has passed away in Sydney today and tributes have been flowing in. He was 92.
He and late partner Sam Moss built up the national chain of womenswear shops Katies.
The Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council’s National Chairman, Mark Leibler and Executive Director, Dr.Colin Rubenstein, told J-Wire: “While his impressive accomplishments in the broader community and his philanthropy are well acknowledged, Joseph Brender was also a tower of strength in the growth of the Australian Jewish community and was a champion of Israel and indeed a participant in its remarkable evolution into a creative, resilient homeland for the Jewish people.
At AIJAC, we have particularly fond memories of Joseph as one of the key figures instrumental in establishing our Sydney office almost forty years ago, and a constant source of advice and support through the decades!
So on behalf of all our AIJAC colleagues, we mourn his sad passing and extend our deepest condolences to Gerda and the entire family.”
Gary Perlstein is the president of UIA NSW.
He said: “I first met Joseph Brender when I was 16 years old as a student at Masada College.
I had the privilege of thanking him and his partner, Sam Moss, for their generous philanthropy.
I had never met a more instinctively generous person and, to this day, have not met many like him.
Joseph Brender was, in my eyes, one of the great pioneers of communal leadership and a philanthropic outlier.
He was always the first to give to anything and everything.
What made his giving so profound is that it came with wisdom, love and care.
I valued more than anything knowing where I stood with Joseph. It made me better and stronger.
I will always look to emulate his generosity and his willingness to push others to give.
We have lost a giant of UIA, our community and one in a million.”
Speaking on behalf of The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Robert Goot said: “One of the giants of the Sydney Jewish community has passed.
Joseph Brender (z”l) was larger than life: as a personality, in business, the community, the UIA, Central Synagogue, and in so many other ways.
He was a devoted husband, father and grandfather; an astute leader with a very sharp mind whose wise counsel was sought far and wide; a committed and proud Jew and uncompromising Zionist whose support for the community and Israel was legendary, as was his generosity as a benefactor.
It was a great privilege to have known and worked with Joseph. Our community will be very much diminished by his passing.
We wish Gerda, Michelle, Steven and the whole family a long life.
Yehi Zichro Baruch – may his memory be for a blessing.”\
Zionist Federation of Australia President Jeremy Leibler said, “Joseph Brender epitomised the success story of the Australian Jewish community. A Holocaust survivor who came to Australia with nothing, he built a textile empire with his life-long friend Sam Moss. Joseph was a proud Zionist who generously gave time and financial support to his community and his country, as well as to Israel. May his memory be a blessing.”
David Ossip, president of The New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, remarked: “Joseph Brender was a giant of the Jewish community who played a critical role in numerous communal organisations through his philanthropy and service.
He was at once effective, practical, personable and possessed a great sense of humour.
Joseph is very fondly remembered by the Moriah family particularly for his outstanding lifetime commitment to the Jewish community, especially through UIA and Central Synagogue, and also for his continued and munificent support of Moriah over decades and as a benefactor with Sam Moss (z’l) of the College’s Brender Moss Library which has provided thousands of Moriah College students with a central space providing tools and resources to learn and study.
Joseph will be sorely missed.
May Joseph’s memory be a blessing to all who knew him.
