If there were still any doubts that American Jewish Congress was closing, they were largely erased this week when one of its two executives directors joined the staff of American Jewish Committee.
Marc Stern, who worked for AJCongress for 33 years, much of them as general counsel until becoming co-executive director two years ago, joined AJC this week as associate general counsel for legal advocacy.
AJCongress, a longtime rival of the American Jewish Committee, officially went on hiatus in mid-July as a result of financial difficulties incurred over the past decade. The fiscal woes were exacerbated when the organization lost most of its assets in the Bernard Madoff scandal.
Rumors that the two organizations had been discussing a merger were longstanding — and confirmed by officials at the now dormant AJCongress — but the Stern hire is unrelated to any potential merger, according to an AJC spokesman. — jta