Mary Fels

Mary Fels ( Fels; March 10, 1863 - May 16, 1953) was a German-born American philanthropist, Georgist, Zionist, suffragist, economist, author, and journal editor. and was active in the promotion of Israel.

Early life and education Mary (or Mollie) Fels was born in Sembach, Bavaria, Germany, March 10, 1863. Elias Fels was industrious and far from rich. There were several boys and half a dozen girls in the family, Mary being the youngest. the family emigrated to the U.S., settling in the vicinity of Keokuk, Iowa. She was brought up in an Orthodox Jewish home.

When Fels was nine years old, a 19 year old soap peddler, Joseph Fels, later the founder of the Fels-Naptha soap brand, arrived in her neighborhood. Joseph heard that a family with the same surname as his, Fels, lived in the vicinity, and upon visiting them, found that the head of the family was a distant relative of his father. Joseph saw the young Mary and was smitten. He said he would go away, make his fortune, and come back and marry her some day.

Fels was 16 of Notre Dame, Indiana. She also attended University of Pennsylvania for one year and completed special courses at Bedford College, London, England. In December of that year, at a meeting of the "Single Tax League of St. Louis", Fels told the audience,— "The single tax movement ... is like woman suffrage - it is bound to come."

She effected the creation of school gardens, and was a pioneer in the farm colony movement to cope with unemployment and to bring people back to land. She adopted work in prisons as part of a program of prison reform movement. Fels created numerous endownments for Palestine institutions and was active for many years in the rebuilding of Palestine, visiting the Holy Land and personally supervising her work there.

Fels published two books, the biography, Joseph Fels: His Life-work (B. W. Huebsch, New York, 1916) and a religious work, Toward the Light (George Dobsevage, New York, 1927). From 1917 to 1919, she was the editor of The Public: A Journal of Democracy.

Personal life Fels had homes in Philadelphia and London, England. She died at her Manhattan home on West 80th Street in New York City, May 16, 1953.

Selected works Joseph Fels: His Life-work (B. W. Huebsch, New York, 1916) (Text) Toward the Light (George Dobsevage, New York, 1927)