Lewis L. (Lewis Levitzki) Lorwin

Born near Kyiv on December 4, 1883, Lewis L. Lorwin emigrated to the United States as a child and went on to build a career as an economist, economic planner, and labor historian. He became known for studying labor movements and industrial change in an international context, bringing together economics, history, and public policy.

Lorwin worked in a range of important advisory and research roles, including service with the International Labor Office, the New York State Labor Department, the National Resources Planning Board, and the Foreign Economic Administration. That mix of academic and government experience shaped writing that was informed by both close research and real policy debates.

He wrote extensively on labor, internationalism, and planning, and remained an important voice in discussions of work and social policy across the first half of the twentieth century. Lewis L. Lorwin died on June 6, 1970, leaving behind a body of work that still reflects the era's big questions about industry, democracy, and international cooperation.