Richard James Horatio Gottheil (13 October 1862 – 22 May 1936) was an English American Semitic scholar, Zionist, founding father of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity, and one of the founders of the Jewish Institute of Religion in New York.

[1][2] He was born in Manchester, England, but moved to the United States at age 11 when his father, Gustav Gottheil, accepted a position as the assistant Rabbi of the largest Reform synagogue in New York, Temple Emanu-El.

[2] From 1898 to 1904 he was president of the American Federation of Zionists, and worked with both Stephen S. Wise and Jacob De Haas as organizational secretaries.

Though he was ever desirous of returning to the quiet life of academia, Gottheil attended the Second Zionist Congress in Basel, establishing relationships with Theodor Herzl and Max Nordau.

[3] "Professor Gottheil shunned publicity; he did not mind the trickles of adulation accorded him as President; but his official duties irked him beyond endurance.