Mr. A. S. Roe, prominent businessman and civic leader, leaves today for a trip to Europe and Palestine. In Europe, Mr. Roe will co-ordinate the traffic in the food packages which the wholesale grocery concern of Grossfield and Roe are now sending to the war sufferers of Poland and Lithuania. Then Mr. Roe will travel to Palestine, where he expects to make large investments and business connections, both for himself and for the firm of Grossfield and Roe, of which he is vice-president, as well as being one of its founders.

On this occasion we wish to make a few observations about the personality of Mr. A. S. Roe who, thus far, is the only Jewish businessman to undertake such a praiseworthy task. Mr. Roe embodies, within himself, a large part of Chicago's Jewish history. He is one of the very few outstanding personalities who encompass everything: knowledge, intelligence, business ability, a Jewish heart, and a national conscience. He has proved it over a period of thirty years or more, as a resident of Chicago's Jewish community. His 2career is an open book--and we can say frankly and with pride, that it is an honor and a blessing from God to have among us such a personality as Mr. A. S. Roe.

Mr. Roe is an immigrant who came to this country when he was eighteen. Although he was only a youth in a big foreign country, nevertheless, due to his extraordinary ability and his ambitious character, he soon attained prominence and recognition in business and public life.

Naturally it must be admitted that the education and knowledge he received in the Hebraic and Russian literature and later his study of science, literature, and languages in Germany, together with his natural abilities, were all instrumental in making A. S. Roe the man he is today.

He came to Chicago in 1883, thirty-six years ago and entered college, from which he graduated as a bookkeeper. At the same time he began his public activities as a Jewish nationalist, founding the first literary society, the Hebrew-Speaking Club, which is still in existence and of which he is still a member.

While he worked for a short time as a bookkeeper, he was striving for something bigger in the field of business, and in 1888 he opened a dry goods store and peddler supply house. His business ability helped him along the road to success. In 1894, together with Mr. Grossfield, he founded the Grossfield and Roe wholesale grocery concern where he is now active, devoting his whole time, his ability, his energy, and activity to the business. As a result the latter grew rapidly, attaining an honorable position and a reputable name in Chicago and throughout the country. Today, the firm of Grossfield and Roe is one of the largest wholesale grocery establishments in the country, occupying a large, modern, up-to-date building which is unequaled in the wholesale grocery trade.

Grossfield and Roe are not only ordinary grocery tradesmen, but are also producers, importers and exporters, and have a wide field of influence in the grocery business world.

Along with his devotion to his business, Mr. Roe has given his time, energy, 4and money to general campaigns for the public welfare. There is no activity, movement, nor undertaking in which Mr. Roe is not one of the most active and most devoted workers.

He was one of the founders of the Hebrew-Speaking Club; one of the founders, as well as first vice-president of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, which was founded and became prominent after the Kishinev pogrom. He was one of the founders and most devoted workers of the Northwest Side Talmud Torah, which he helped to build and where he was president for three years. He was one of the chief organizers of the Marks Nathan Orphan Home and was its first vice-president. He took an active part in the Home for the Aged, where he was a director for some time; he is an active worker in the Jewish Educational Alliance; one of the founders and most active [workers] in the Jewish Federation of Orthodox Charities, whose first vice-president he has been, as well as its director for a time, and chairman of its membership committee. He is a director of the Jewish Consumptive Relief Society of Denver, a member of the B'nai Brith and other organizations; an ardent, 5conscientious Zionist and respected nationalist. He participated actively in the Jewish Congress movement and was a delegate to the first Jewish Congress in Philadelphia.

However, he did not stop there; he always looked for and became interested in new and important Jewish humanitarian and national campaigns. Thanks to his influence, the firm of Grossfield and Roe has undertaken to send parcels of food to Poland and Lithuania, and thus to alleviate the hunger pangs of the unfortunate war-victims. Mr. Roe is leaving for Europe to arrange the delivery of food packages, and then will go to Palestine, where he will exert his entire energy, and apply his varied and many years of experience to the establishment of a permanent connection for Grossfield and Roe. At the same time he will make an effort to establish important productive and business enterprises. That this will be an important factor in the revival and rebuilding of the Jewish settlement in Palestine, there can be no doubt, and Mr. Roe deserves recognition for this undertaking.

We can confidently express, in the name of Chicago's Kehilah, Chicago's Jewish institutions, and Chicago's Jews, a warm farewell to Mr. Roe, and a sincere wish that his journey shall be a happy one, and that he may succeed in all of his undertakings. May he have a peaceful return to Chicago to resume his business and welfare work.

Mr. Roe has four children: two sons and two daughters, who are very talented and well-educated children. He leads a quiet and contented family life. Mr. Roe is full of vitality and energy and it is to be hoped that upon his return from Europe and especially Palestine, he will resume his work in Jewish national and social activities with redoubled energy and devotion.