Gershon Agron

Gershon Harry Agron (Hebrew: גרשון אגרון; né Agronsky; 7 January 1894 [O.S. 27 December 1893] – 1 November 1959) was an Israeli newspaper editor, politician, and the mayor of West Jerusalem between 1955 and his death in 1959. A Zionist from his youth, Agron joined the Jewish Legion and fought in Palestine towards the end of World War I; he had come to the attention of the Zionist Organization of America from the start, and quickly became a spokesperson for American Jewry. He then joined the Zionist Commission as a press officer and helped expand the Jewish Telegraphic Agency upon his return to the United States, of which he served as editor. He lobbied for the creation of Mandatory Palestine and immigrated there permanently in 1924, heading the Zionist Executive press office. Lacking journalistic agency, and ambitious to create Zionist press, he started his own newspaper, The Palestine Post, which was renamed as The Jerusalem Post after Israel's founding; he changed his own name (from Agronsky to Agron) around the same time. Agron continued to serve as press officer, promoting Zionism, in the new government, and became mayor of West Jerusalem in 1955, during which he spearheaded the city's development. He died in office from a lung infection following a cancer operation. He was considered an influential proponent of Zionism.