HAROLD
O. ZIMMAN
Country: United States
Born: 1916
Died: December 18, 1994
Harold Zimman published The Olympian, the official monthly
magazine of the Olympic Society, from 1977 until his death. He served
as a member
of
the U.S. Olympic Committee from 1952 until his death and for many years
sat on the committee’s executive board. The Tufts University graduate
founded the USOC’s Public Relations
and Media Committee.
Zimman is recipient of the Olympic Gold Order, the International
Olympic Committee’s highest honor. Through 1994, he was 1 of 30
Americans to have received the Order and the first honoree who was not
an athlete
or sports leader.
Zimman was a member of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Welfare
Board from 1948 until his death and was chairman of its Health and Physical
Education Committee since 1958. In 1966, he was appointed by the
JWB to serve on the USOC as representative of the American Jewish community.
In
1948, Zimman and Charles Ornstein, Harry D. Henshel, and Edward
Rosenblum founded the United States Committee Sports for Israel
with the vision of helping Israel obtain membership in the international
Olympic community. With his goal accomplished, Israel competed in the
1952 Olympic Games, Zimman remained active in the USCSFI’s numerous
other U.S.-Israel sports-related projects, including the World Maccabiah
Games. He was also a prime mover in the development of sports
facilities in the United States and Israel.
In 1950, Zimman was a player on the USA’s 3rd Maccabiah Gamesmen’s
volleyball team. |