Herman Toll

Herman Toll
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 6th district
In office January 3, 1959 – January 3, 1963
Preceded by	Hugh Scott
Succeeded by	George M. Rhodes
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 4th district
In office January 3, 1963 – January 3, 1967
Preceded by	Robert N. C. Nix, Sr.
Succeeded by	Joshua Eilberg
Personal details
Political party	Democratic Party

Herman Toll (March 15, 1907 – July 26, 1967) from 1959 to 1967 was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives, serving Pennsylvania. He supported the civil rights movement, and sponsored legislation to create several federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Urban Affairs and Housing.

Born in Boslov (Boguslav or Bohuslav), a city about 60 miles southeast of Kiev, Ukraine, Rep. Toll immigrated with his family to the United States around 1910. He graduated from Temple University School of Law in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania without a college degree (not a requirement at the time); he started practicing law in 1930. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, Philadelphia Housing Association, B'nai B'rith and the board of directors of the Crusader Savings & Loan Association. In 1950 he was elected to the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, where he served as vice chairman of the Judiciary Committee and helped secure passage of the first Fair Employment Practices law in the state. He was re-elected in 1952, 1954 and 1956.

Rep. Toll was elected in 1958 as a Democrat to the United States Congress, becoming the first person of Jewish descent to represent the sixth Congressional district of Pennsylvania. He was re-elected three times—the final two times to represent the fourth Congressional district—and served until shortly before his death in 1967. In his first term he was named a member of the House Judiciary Committee as well as of its Subcommittee on Immigration and Nationality. Toward the end of his third term Rep. Toll was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. Unable to campaign aggressively, he nevertheless easily won a fourth term; due to illness he would serve in absentia without making an appearance in the House. He was not a candidate for re-election in 1966 and he died the following year at the age of 60.

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