Boarding School Founder Chico Sabbah
Maurice “Chico” Sabbah, founder of the nation’s only non-Orthodox Jewish boarding school, died April 17 at age 77. A wealthy businessman, Sabbah poured more than $100 million into the school’s 100-acre campus in Greensboro, N.C. His contribution, which paid full tuition for the school’s initial 77 students, is believed to be the single largest donation by any individual to Jewish education in the United States. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Great Neck, N.Y., Sabbah immigrated to Israel and served in the Israeli army after college. After returning to the United States, he served in the U.S. Army in Korea before entering the reinsurance business. In 2001 he started the American Hebrew Academy, which now serves 126 students.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
