Classical violinist, born 1913 in Odessa, Russian Empire and died in 1955.

He was born in Odessa but the family moved to London when he was only one, to avoid a pogrom. They moved to the U.S. before the war, settling in Philadelphia. He was well thought of as a student and secured good positions in orchestras and quartets. He joined the Budapest String Quartet in 1949. Although his playing, like Ortenberg's, was a little quiet, he was well thought of during the Budapest auditions, when in his mid-thirties.

In 1950, the quartet went to Europe for the first time after the war. They agreed not to go to Germany, especially because Schneider had lost his mother and sister in Auschwitz. This tour, together with the continual demands in the U.S., heavily stressed Gorodetzky. He developed stage fright, and sometimes pleaded for extra rehearsals of works they had already played.

Then in September 1952, they played in Japan as the first quartet to tour there after the war. The whole season was sold out in two hours. Three thousand attended their first concert. There were staff to attend to their every need, and cars to take them everywhere. One night they felt the need to get some exercise in Okayama. They were walking on a narrow road, when Josef Roisman fell into a nine-foot ditch and broke his left wrist. They had it set at the U.S. military hospital in Tokyo. On their return to the U.S., they were told the wrist had been improperly set and had to be rebroken and reset. Concerts were switched to trios and piano quartets during Roisman's recovery. After months of hard work, he rejoined the quartet in Portland, Oregon on January 12, 1953.

A second Japanese tour in 1954 was even more successful, but Jac was getting more uncomfortable. In February, he told the others he wanted to leave. They hoped to talk him out of it, but none of them realized how unwell he was. Finally, in November 1955, he committed suicide in a small hotel in Washington. The other players felt awful, and played benefit concerts for his family at the Settlement Music School. Later, Mischa left them most of his music and on his death Joe left them most of his money.