Albert Lewis; Rabbi Led Temple Isaiah

Rabbi Albert M. Lewis, who came to Temple Isaiah in 1948 when it was in its infancy and built it into one of the larger Reform congregations in the city, died Saturday night.

Rabbi Robert T. Gan, current spiritual leader of the temple, said Lewis was 77 and had been battling cancer when he died at his West Los Angeles home.

A graduate of the University of Cincinnati and Hebrew Union College in that city, Lewis served as an Air Force chaplain during World War II and headed a temple in Lexington, Ky., before coming to Los Angeles.

He became the first full-time rabbi at Temple Isaiah, building it into a congregation of more than 700 families while also becoming president of the Pacific Assn. of Reform Rabbis and president of the Southern California Board of Rabbis.

During his tenure the current temple on Pico Boulevard near Beverly Glen Boulevard was erected.

A social and civil rights activist, he devoted much of his time to the needs of the elderly and farm workers and also pressed for school desegregation. He was a former member of the Social Service Commission of Los Angeles and the Jewish Federation Council.

Gan said that when his colleague retired in 1979, a speaker’s chair in his honor was established at Temple Isaiah.

Lewis’ survivors include his wife, Frances, two daughters and four grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks contributions to an Albert M. Lewis Memorial Fund at Temple Isaiah, 10345 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles 90064.