Fun Facts
Fit as a fiddle – even in his late 80s
Alex has been active in sports all his life. He is particularly fond of soccer and used to play on various school and county teams. Starting in the early 1980s, he ran marathons – and even at the age of 87, the vegan is still as fit as a fiddle: He swims or jogs for an hour each day, and on Friday nights he shakes a leg at folk dancing.
On the couch in the ministry of agriculture
FARM, the animal rights movement Alex founded, had not chosen its Washington headquarters by accident: The activists hoped to attract the attention of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is based there. Poster campaigns, hunger strikes in calf crates and bloody slaughter scenes as street theater followed – initially without success. But in 1988, Alex and his comrades-in-arms discovered an unlocked back door to the office of the Secretary of Agriculture. They entered the building separately, met at the deliberate back door – and made themselves comfortable on the couch of the Secretary. He fled on foot, but his deputy at least agreed to a meeting after long negotiations. Finally, the activists were able to make their case: the abuses in the animal industry.
A T-shirt for the President
On one of his trips to Israel in 2015, Alex met with Reuven Rivlin, then President of Israel. Alex gave his host a T-shirt from the Farm Animal Rights Movement (FARM). “Ruvi” has a big heart for everyone – whether they walk on two legs or four. As president, he supported many animal rights movement events, and he sets a good example as a long-term vegetarian himself.
