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Paul M. Steinberg, HUC-JIR Official

Paul M. Steinberg, Eleanor Sinsheimer distinguished service professor of Jewish religious education and human relations at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, died July 8 in New York after battling cancer for several years. He was 79.

Steinberg served as teacher, mentor, dean and vice president at the College-Institute schools in New York and Jerusalem, beginning in 1955. At the time of his death, Steinberg was vice president for communal development, and served on the boards of the Jewish Braille Institute, Jerusalem’s W.F. Albright Institute of Archeological Research, the Hospital for Joint Diseases and Dorot. He also served as president of the Gimprich Foundation.

Born in New York City, Steinberg earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at City College, received his ordination and master’s degree in Hebrew literature from the JIR in 1949,and earned his doctorate in psychological services from Columbia University. Steinberg taught at Hebrew University, New York University, Baruch College and the Army Force Management School and received honorary doctorates from Baltimore Hebrew University and from HUC-JIR.

Steinberg and his wife, Trudy, were honored by HUC-JIR in 1997 with the establishment of the Dr. Paul M. and Trudy Steinberg Endowment Fund for the Teaching of Human Relations. The Dr. Paul M. and Trudy Steinberg Distinguished Professorship Chair in Human Relations and Counseling was established in 2003.

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