Abraham Bates was born in Mongolia, the son of Russian Jewish fur traders.
Together with his parents, he moved to the United States at the beginning of the 1920's and moved
with his sister to Tientsin, China in the early 1930's. After completing his
education in China he worked for an English language newspaper and for
"British-American Tobacco" before returning to Brooklyn, New York in
the late 1930's.
He worked as an accountant for a number of years and was
named Accountant of the Year by the New York Chapter of the National
Association of Cost Accountants in 1958-59. In 1962 he moved to Howard County,
serving as the Assistant Director of the Maryland Academy of Science from
1965-1974. There, he developed a lifelong interest in Paleontology, organizing numerous
educational excursions for schools and community groups to Calvert Cliffs and other fossil
areas. Later he became Comptroller of
Planned Parenthood of Maryland in Baltimore holding that position until his
retirement in 1986. He was then recruited as a United Nations Consultant for Family Planning in the
Philippines.
During all of this time, Abe was actively involved in a
variety of community service activities. He served as Chairman of the American
Civil Liberties Union, was a member of the Howard County Charter Committee, and
NAACP. He served on the school board and as a PTA president, and was a
president of the Unitarian Universalist Society of Howard County. In addition,
he taught English as a second language and was active in various causes for
peace and social justice throughout his life.
In 1996, the Howard County Office on Aging named him "Outstanding Senior
Citizen of the Year." He was well-loved for his zest for life, his dedication to improving the lives
of others and for his sense of humor. Abe was married to Virginia Neumann Bates
and had three children and two grandchildren.