Rabbi Irving Usher Kirshblum (1911-1983), born in Biaylstok, Poland, served as rabbi for the Jewish Center of Kew Gardens Hills in Queens. He came to this country as a child, attended New Utrecht High School and was a graduate of Brooklyn College. He studied at the Jewish Institute of Religion and was ordained a rabbi in 1944. He was membership chairman of the Zionist Organization of America and was a member of the Rabbinical Assembly of America. He had been associated with the Jewish Center of Kew Gardens Hills since 1946. In 1971, he received an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. He was a member of the board of directors of the Queens Legion of the National Conference of Christians and Jews and president of the Queens Interfaith Clergy Council. Rabbi Kirshblum was a member of the American Bicentennial Committee, and also was a member of the New York State Advisory Committee for the Aging.