Esther Safran Foer


Esther Safran Foer is a writer and the former Executive Director of Sixth & I Synagogue in Washington, DC.

Early life

Esther Safran was born in Lodz, Poland to Louis and Ethel Safran, Holocaust survivors who met in 1945. She spent her early childhood in a displaced persons camp before moving with her family to the Unites States in 1949. The family later settled in Washington, DC. Her father committed suicide in 1954.

Family

Safran Foer is married to Albert Foer, a lawyer and president of the American Antitrust Institute. They have three sons; novelist Jonathan Safran Foer, and journalists Franklin and Joshua Foer.

Career

Safran Foer worked as press secretary for presidential candidate George McGovern. She founded public-relations firm FM Strategic Communications in 2002 and served as Executive Director of Sixth & I Synagogue from 2007 to 2016.
In 2008, Safran Foer was recognized by The Forward as one of its Forward 50. The Washingtonian included Safran Foer in their 2015 list of The Most Powerful Women in Washington.
Her memoir, I Want You To Know We’re Still Here, was published in 2020, and details the story of how she discovered and explored her father's first wife and daughter who perished in the Holocaust.