Miguel Sajaroff
SAJAROFF, MIGUEL (1873–1958), pioneer of agrarian cooperativism in Argentina. Born in Mariupol, the Crimea (Russia), he earned a degree in agronomical engineering in Wittenberg, Germany. Under the influence of Tolstoyan thought, he aspired to become a farmer and live close to nature. Acquiescing to the request of his brother-in-law, Noah *Yarcho, he went to Argentina in 1899 and settled in the Colonia Leven, Entre Ríos, as an "independent settler," on land granted him by the *Jewish Colonization Association (ICA). He hoped to improve the economy and the cultural life of the settlement by participating in the establishment of the cooperative Fondo Communal in Domínguez in 1904. After assuming its presidency in 1908, he advocated and promoted the development of agricultural cooperatives not only in all the Jewish settlements but also throughout Argentinean life. After his death a town in the province of Entre Ríos was named Ingeniero Miguel Sajaroff.
Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.