He was a successful business man, which eminently helped him achieve great charitable work, to which he chiefly devoted his attention.
Ephraim Alex imparted his zeal and public spirit to the community, which rapidly developed and perfected the organisation.
A suggestion had indeed been made as early as 1802 by Joshua Van Oven to replace the loose and imperfect arrangement between the three German synagogues by a definite Board of Guardians for the Jewish poor.
In February 1859 he issued a circular proposing "a scheme for a Board of Guardians for the relief of the necessitous foreign poor."
The keynote of the circular and scheme was organization, and the subsequent development of the board had been strictly on the lines of Alex's original conception.