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all Oral History
October 26, 1999

Irvin Jaffee

Irvin Jaffee was rooted in Dallas's Jewish immigrant community. His father, Max Jaffee, was active in local charity, buying a house on South Boulevard where several elderly men lived, which grew into the community's home for the aged. Irvin remembered the hardships of Depression-era life, including a childhood account of living without electricity and bathing in a galvanized tub, and he recalled relatives such as his cousin Dave Tucker who came from Lithuania and worked in a saloon on Elm Street. He was strongly influenced early in life by his brother Morris, whose judgment guided many of Irvin's early positions on Federation matters.

In Dallas, Jaffee built a career in the pawn business. He first worked for his brother Dave, then for Bill Salters, and in 1946 went into partnership with I.J. Funk before buying out his partner in 1948 to run his own store. He described the daily rhythms of the pawn trade, from police inspections and low-cost merchandise during the Depression to the community customs of Deep Ellum, where merchants gave Christmas gifts to needy families. He offered a detailed catalog of Elm Street stores, shopkeepers, and neighborhood characters, painting a rich portrait of the district's Jewish and immigrant business life.

Jaffee's deepest legacy lay in his half century of service to the Jewish Federation. He recalled debates over funding national defense agencies such as the American Jewish Committee, American Jewish Congress, and ADL, the shift toward supporting local agencies and Jewish education, and the contentious 1968 decision to fund the Akiba academy despite Rabbi Olin's opposition. A gifted solicitor, he told stories of persuading donors like Carl Pollock and Mort Meyerson to give generously, including a 3 million dollar Operation Exodus effort. He observed how the Federation grew to train young leaders, build a community center, and expand Jewish education over the decades.

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