Jacob Potofsky

Jacob Samuel Potofsky (November 26, 1894 – August 5, 1979) was a Russian-born American trade unionist, best known as second president of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, succeeding founder Sidney Hillman.

Background Jacob Samual Potofsky was born on November 26, 1894, in the Teteriv River town of Radomisl, Russian Empire (now Radomyshl, Ukraine). At age eleven, Potofsky immigrated with his family to Chicago, USA. In 1910, by then a "floor boy" in a clothing factory for Hart, Schaffner & Marx, as a member of Pantsmakers Local 144 he partook in a strike called by Sidney Hillman against the clothing manufacturer. In 1960, he supported John F. Kennedy for president; in 1968, he supported Hubert H. Humphrey for president. "The Pioneering of Workers' Banks" (1963)