H. E. Kershner; Aided Young War Victims

Howard E. Kershner, a successful builder, newspaper editor and publisher who retired from those fields in 1939 to help clothe and feed the young victims of war, died Monday at a convalescent home in Norwalk at age 98.

Kershner, a lifelong member of the Society of Friends who wrote frequently for Quaker publications, had lived in La Jolla before entering the Southland Lutheran Home where he died of respiratory complications.

He was editor and publisher of the Dodge City Daily Journal in Kansas and assistant chief of the newspaper section of the War Industries Board during World War I before becoming a real estate operator, contractor and manufacturer. But he abandoned those businesses shortly before World War II to go to Europe for the American Friends Service Committee. There he became director of relief for the child victims of the Spanish Civil War.

With the outbreak of World War II, he became executive vice president of the International Commission for the Relief of Refugee Children in Europe where he obtained financial aid from 24 countries.

He also became a member of former President Herbert Hoover’s Committee on Food for the Small Democracies.

After the war, he became vice president of the Save the Children Federation, establishing that program in Europe. At one point the federation was assisting about 2,000 schools in countries ranging from Finland to Greece.

Kershner also raised funds for UNICEF and was a founding member of CARE.

In 1950 he founded the Christian Freedom Foundation, edited its journal, Christian Economics, and wrote a column, “It’s Up to You,” which was printed in 225 daily and 425 weekly newspapers. His essays, published in the journal, eventually were used in 1,700 churches around the country.

He moved the foundation to Los Angeles in 1967 and for the next six years was a lay preacher for the First Congregational Church here. He retired in 1986 after suffering a stroke.

A lifelong conservative, he wrote several books, among them “The Menace of Roosevelt and His Policies” in 1936, “Quaker Service in Modern War” in 1950 and “God, Gold and Government” in 1956.

His honors include the Order of Leopold by the Belgian government and the Order of Merit by the International Union for the Protection of Children. He also was a member of the French Legion of Honor.

He is survived by his wife, Mary, a son, two daughters, nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.