Background
Abe Josef Sass was born in New York City, New York, on September 8, 1938, to Samuel and Sylvia (nee Wendrow) Sass. Growing
up in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, he attended P.S. 11 and Charles Evans Hughes High School. He then went on to earn
an undergraduate degree from the City College of New York and then a Master's degree in Social Work from Columbia University.
He eventually moved to California and went to work for the Napa State Hospital and then later developing an effective drug
and alcohol treatment program in Sonoma County. While in California, he met Rivkah Henricksen. They were married on April
18, 1976, and eventually had two children, Ilana and Gabriel. In 2009, the couple moved to Sacramento as Rivkah became the
Library Director of the Sacramento Public Library. While there, Abe was involved with the Sacramento Poetry Center and was
an active member of the Capital community. Throughout his life, Sass was an ardent activist, supporting the causes of labor,
tolerance, peace, and human dignity, all ethics that led him to participate in the August 1963 March on Washington and numerous
social justice events to follow. Sass passed away in Sacramento, California, on January 3, 2016.
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