Sara Stone

August 23, 1915–February 3, 2018

by JWA Staff
Our work to expand the Encyclopedia is ongoing. We are providing this brief biography for Sara Stone until we are able to commission a full entry.

Philanthropist Sara Stone in 2012.

Courtesy of Alan Smason/Crescent City Jewish News

Sara Stone helped New Orleans weather hard times from the Great Depression through Hurricane Katrina. Stone graduated from Duke University in 1935 and returned home to study social work at Tulane University. She spent a brief time aiding poverty-stricken residents of the French Quarter in New Orleans before marrying Saul Stone in 1938. In 1946 she joined the board of the National Council of Jewish Women, serving as president of her local chapter in 1951 and welcoming Holocaust survivors at the docks from 1949–1952, helping them build new lives in America. She chaired NCJW’s scholarship committee for decades, focusing on making higher education accessible to immigrants. She also did fundraising for the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Children’s Regional Service, organizing scholarship funds and other aid for needy children, and served on the boards of countless local organizations, including the Community Chest, the United Fund, the Social Welfare Planning Council, the Volunteer Committee at Charity Hospital, and even a ballet troupe. Ninety years old when Hurricane Katrina hit, she soon returned to her community and her commitments to local Jewish organizations. In 2015 she was made an honorary vice-president of NCJW for her decades of service, and she remains active on several national boards.

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How to cite this page

Jewish Women's Archive. "Sara Stone." (Viewed on December 3, 2024) <https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/stone-sara>.