Geoffrey Wigoder

Geoffrey Wigoder (3 August 1922 – 9 April 1999) was a British-born Israeli scholar, editor, and broadcaster, best known as editor-in-chief of the Encyclopaedia Judaica.^[1][2][3]

Geoffrey Wigoder
Born	(1922-08-03)3 August 1922 Leeds, England
Died	9 April 1999(1999-04-09) (aged 76) Jerusalem, Israel
Nationality	British-Israeli
Occupation(s)	Scholar, editor, broadcaster
Spouse	Devorah Mac Dwyer
Children	2

Early life

Wigoder was born in Leeds, England, into a family with both acting and rabbinic connections.^[1] He studied at Trinity College Dublin, earning a degree in medieval Jewish history, and later completed doctoral work at the University of Oxford in Jewish philosophy.^[1][2] He also trained for the rabbinate at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York City, where he met his future wife.^[1][2] The couple married and emigrated in 1949 to the newly established State of Israel, settling in Jerusalem.^[2]

Career

In 1950, Wigoder became English-language director of The Voice of Zion to the Diaspora, an Israeli international broadcasting service.^[1] He later served as a correspondent in Jerusalem for the BBC and The Yorkshire Post, reporting on major events including the Eichmann trial.^[2] From 1960 to 1967 he directed Israel’s overseas broadcasts.^[1]

Wigoder collaborated with Cecil Roth on the New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia and succeeded him as editor-in-chief of the 16-volume Encyclopaedia Judaica following Roth’s death in 1970.^[2] He later oversaw the encyclopedia’s digital release on CD-ROM.^[1] His other editorial works include The Encyclopedia of the Jewish Religion, Jewish Art and Civilization, The Story of the Synagogue, and Dictionary of the Jewish–Christian Dialogue.^[2]

At the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Wigoder founded Israel’s first oral history department and contributed to the establishment of the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora in Tel Aviv.^[2][1][3]

Later life and death

Wigoder continued teaching and writing into the 1990s, editing works such as the New Encyclopedia of Zionism and Israel.^[1] He died in Jerusalem on 9 April 1999, aged 76, from a brain hemorrhage following a fall.^[2] He was survived by his wife, two sons, a sister, and two grandchildren.^[2][1]