Alfred Fleishman

Alfred "Al" Fleishman (June 16, 1905 – May 28, 2002), was co-founder, with business partner Robert Hillard, of Fleishman-Hillard, the St. Louis-based public relations firm that began in a rented room above a Woolworth’s store and has grown to become one of the world’s largest public relations agencies. In the process, Fleishman earned a reputation not only as one of the pioneers of public relations, but also as an author, educator, humanitarian, and champion of the state of Israel.

A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Fleishman was born June 16, 1905, and studied at the St. Louis College of Pharmacy, before being inducted into the U.S. Army. As a major in the U.S. Army Air Corps, he spent World War II primarily as a Pentagon-based public information officer. He traveled to war-torn Germany in October 1945. Sent by the American Jewish Congress as a special consultant to the Secretary of Defense, he headed a survey committee that studied the psychological, economic and social needs of displaced people in Germany and Austria.

In that capacity, he was an early eyewitness to the horrors of the Holocaust, and his research and subsequent report alerted many organizations in the United States to the forgotten people of World War II – the displaced Jews. Upon completion of his report, Fleishman made a 60-city U.S. lecture tour, discussing these refugees’ relief and rehabilitation needs. The trip influenced his life as he became deeply involved in various Jewish causes and with minority affairs. A longtime member of the Assembly of the Jewish Agency in Israel, Fleishman made 57 visits to Israel between 1955 and 1997, becoming a personal friend of many of the founders and leaders of the state.

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