Without training to become a rabbi,[2] he was later titled "Reb Elimelech" due to his influential work and also known by his nickname "Mike".
[3] Tress was President of Agudath Israel of America for many years, helping the Union to become one of the greatest political, communal, and cultural representations of the Orthodoxy of its time in the United States.
To finance Agudath Israel and help Jews escape from Europe, Tress gave up his career as an entrepreneur and used his fortune to do so.
[4] His biographer is the journalist and spokesperson Jonathan Rosenblum, whose work is based in part on research by historian David Kranzler.
His life and work are the subject of a biography: This biographical article about a person notable in connection with Judaism is a stub.