Samuel S. Mayerberg

Samuel Spier Mayerberg (May 8, 1892 – November 21, 1964) was an American rabbi who was active in Kansas City, Missouri and fought against the city's control by political boss Tom Pendergast.

Early life and education Mayerberg was born in Goldsboro, North Carolina, on May 8, 1892, to rabbi Julius L. Mayerberg. He graduated high school in 1908, and studied at the University of Cincinnati and the Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion—also his father's alma mater—graduating from the latter in 1917 and pursued ministry

Career Also in 1917, Mayerberg married Gertrude Rothschild, and they moved to Detroit. There, he worked at Temple Beth El as an assistant. From 1920 to 1928, he led Temple Israel, in Dayton, Ohio. While in Ohio, he was president of the Montgomery County chapter of the American Red Cross, helped build an orphanage, and established the Ohio Society for the Welfare of the Mentally Ill. and beginning on May 21, 1932, spoke on it at clubs. He gained support among the public, unsuccessfully running in the 1934 Kansas City mayoral election. To remain sade, he left Kansas City for a time, hired bodyguards, and slept with a pistol. He survived a drive-by shooting from four shooters in 1932, He died on November 21, 1964, aged 72, of a heart attack.