Sylvan D. Schwartzman (1913–1994)

Sylvan D. Schwartzman was born in Baltimore, Maryland. He received BA and MBA degrees from the University of Cincinnati and a PhD from Vanderbilt University. He was ordained a rabbi at Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati and became the rabbi of Congregation Children of Israel in Augusta, Georgia in 1941–1947, after which he spent a year as director of Field Activities for the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and then two years as the rabbi of the Temple in Nashville, Tennessee.

In 1950, Dr. Schwartzman was appointed professor of Jewish Religious Education at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (HUC-JIR), where he remained until his retirement in 1981. In 1975, he spent a year as dean of HUC-JIR. He also served on the boards of or as an advisor to numerous organizations in Reform Judaism. He was the co-author of Our Religion and Our Neighbors (with Milton G. Miller, 1959), the first book published in Jewish religious education for the teaching of comparative religion; and Elements of Financial Analysis (with R.E. Ball, 1977), which was selected for the "Investors Book Shelf of the Year" by Business Week magazine. He also wrote Reform Judaism in the Making (1955); Rocket to Mars (1953); Reform Judaism Then and Now (1971); The Story of Reform Judaism (1949); and The Living Bible (with J. Spiro, 1962).