Obituaries

Beverly Minkoff, past president of Women’s American ORT, died Feb. 14, 1987, after a long illness, at age 60. Minkoff served as national president of the 145,000-member Jewish women’s organization from 1979 through 1983.

She joined ORT in the early 1950s, when the organization was rapidly expanding operations to meet the needs of the recently established state of Israel and of the Jewish communities in Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Iran. By 1965, Minkoff was president of the Long Island region. In 1967 she became a member of the national executive committee and served in a variety of posts until she was elected national president.

Congresswoman Sala Galant Burton, democratic representative from San Francisco, died on Feb. 1, 1987, of complications from colon cancer. She was 61.

Burton, known affectionately as the “bubbe” of Congress, was serving her second term in the House at the time of her death, having been elected in her own right after finishing her late husband’s term.

Burton was born in Bialystok, Poland, and came to the United States shortly before World War II.

She was a staunch supporter of Israel and of Soviet Jewry, as well as of human rights in general. She and her husband visited the Soviet Union in 1977, where they met Shcharansky and other refuseniks.