Irving Jay Fain papers (MSS-0003)

Biographical/Historical Note

Irving Jay Fain was born in Providence, Rhode Island to immigrants Alfred and Elizabeth (Stoneman) in 1906. In 1923, he graduated from Classical High School and in 1927 from Harvard University. In 1936, Fain married Evelyn Macie. He served in the United States Army as a quartermaster officer in England, North Africa, and Italy from 1942-1945, and ultimately attained the rank of captain. Fain worked in his family business, which included Thompson Chemical, Tower Iron Works, Apex Inc., Apex Tire and Rubber, and Dighton Industries. He helped found and was the first chairman and chief lobbyist of Citizens United for a Fair Housing Law in 1958. In 1959, he led three discussions of the proposed Fair Housing Law in Rhode Island on WJAR radio’s World Affairs Program, where he stressed the moral and ethical values of residential desegregation. Fain campaigned vigorously for a Fair Housing Law until its passing in 1965. He served as president of the Temple Beth-El and the Urban League of Rhode Island, and became chairman of the Social Action Committee of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Fain was also heavily influenced by the civil rights movement in the south and donated $50,000 to the Mississippi Bail Fund to help release arrested civil rights protestors. Additionally, he grew passionate about nutrition in schools and helped to found the Rhode Island Nutrition Council.

Fain received a Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christian and Jews in 1963, and in 1965 he helped to organize a student exchange program between Brown University and Tougaloo College. He also received honorary doctorates from Brown and Tougaloo. Fain died in Boston, Massachusetts in August of 1970.