Ratshesky, Abraham Captain

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RATSHESKY, ABRAHAM CAPTAIN

RATSHESKY, ABRAHAM CAPTAIN (1864–1943), U.S. banker and civic leader. Ratshesky was born in Boston. He became a state Republican leader and was state senator in 1892–94. In 1895 he left career politics and founded the U.S. Trust Company, of which he served as president and board chairman. Subsequently, Ratshesky held numerous civic posts, including Massachusetts food administrator during World War i and U.S. minister to Czechoslovakia (1930–33). He was chairman of the Massachusetts Department of Public Welfare for ten years. Ratshesky served as first president of the Federated Jewish Charities of Boston (1909–19) and was prominent in many civic and Jewish endeavors. He formed the A.C. Ratshesky Charity Foundation in 1916.

[Edward L. Greenstein]