[3] His father, a graduate of the Hildesheimer Rabbinical Seminary in Berlin, was his first teacher and educated him in the way of Torah im derech eretz advocated by Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch.
There he met his future wife, Claude-Anne (Hannah) d'Alsace, who was accepted to the school of liturgy and pedagogy that was open at that time.
Under his influence, the Seminary moved to a more conservative and pious line than before, a process that was finally completed with the immigration of North African Jews to France.
Gugenheim was also the editorial director of the Chantiers du Rabbinat, taught at the Yabné School, and was a member of the rabbinical court, dealing with points of matrimonial and civil law, before being responsible for conversions to Judaism.
He was appointed vice president of the court in 1952, where he mainly dealt with areas related to Jewish identity and marriage, and soon became responsible for the issue of conversions.
His halachic authority, along with his accessibility to applicants from the Jewish community and beyond, made him perceived as an authoritative figure regarding the view of Orthodox Judaism in France.
He died on March 22, 1977 in Paris after a long illness caused by a brain tumor, and was buried in the cemetery of his native town, Westhoffen.