Maxyne
Finkelstein, CEO of the Jewish Agency for Israel North America, accepts the
AJCOP Mandelkorn Distinguished Service Award for 2006, from AJCOP Past
President and longtime colleague Mitch Orlik, Executive Director of the Israel
Cancer Research Fund in Los Angeles.
Maxyne Finkelstein recently assumed the
professional position of CEO of the Jewish Agency for Israel, North America.
She is the first professional to hold this position which is responsible for
the financial resource development, service, representation and operations of
JAFI in the United States and Canada. She served as the Chief Professional of
the UIA Federations Canada, the national organization representing the
interests of the Federations and Jewish communities of Canada in regard to the
national and Israel and overseas agendas, from 2000 to 2006.
Maxyne Finkelstein began her career in Jewish communal
service in Montreal. She held professional positions at the Canadian Jewish
Congress and the Cumming Center for Seniors prior to joining the Montreal
Federation in 1985. During her fourteen years with Federation CJA she worked
in various capacities, most recently, she was professionally responsible for
the development of a new strategic vision for service delivery and a part of
the team which managed the rebuilding of the Montreal Jewish Community Campus.
During the past 25 years, Maxyne has been intimately involved with the
relationship of Israel to the Jewish Community both from a perspective of
resource development and as a source of identity. In 1988 she published a
first article in the Journal of Jewish Communal Service relating
to Israel experience as an important form of identity. She provided the
professional leadership to the early development of the Partnership 2000 in
Montreal with Beersheva and Bnai Shimon. While working at UIA Federations
Canada, her major focus was strengthening Annual Federation Campaigns and the
reorganization of domestic advocacy services. During her tenure the
organization developed strong program components which serve the next
generation and rebuilt a national Women’s Division. In this context she was
committed to building a vibrant core of national leadership with a vision of
serving and enriching national collective responsibility through the passion
and expertise they developed as leaders in local Federations.
AJCOP Rosichan Retiree of the Year for
2006:
Robert Fitterman

Robert Fitterman
Bob Fitterman was born
and raised in Malden., Mass. He is a graduate of Bates College
(Lewiston , Maine) and holds a MA from the
Graduate School for Jewish Social Work, NY, and
also worked toward a doctorate from Ohio State. Bob
began his career, working at the Jewish Board of Guardians – a family
service agency in New York, went on
to work for the State of New York and then worked for a Family Service
agency in Pittsburgh.
In 1948 Bob became the
Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Dayton, Ohio.
During his thirty year tenure there, the
community built a Jewish Home for the Aged, and a
Jewish Community Center Building. During the 1967 War and the Yom Kippur War,
Dayton's Israel Emergency Campaign giving made
it one of the highest per capita Jewish communities
in the country.
Bob retired in 1978, and
he and Mollye moved to Singer Island , Fl. where they became
involved with Jewish Federation of Palm Beach.
He served as Interim Executive Director there
for a year or so, accepting no salary for his service. He also served as the
first Endowment Director of the
Palm Beach Federation. He and Mollye were very active in establishing
a Federation presence on Singer Island, and running the campaign there. They
also volunteered at the Riviera Beach Library,
and at St. Mary’s Hospital for many years. Bob
is a charter member of AJCOP, and served as its President from 1973-1975.
Peter Wells came to work
for Bob in Dayton in 1973. "Bob and Mollye became our family
in Dayton," Peter related. "Bob was
always interested in professional development and made certain
that I was able to finish the program at the School of Jewish Communal
Service. He had a very open
supervision style. He introduced me to all of the important people,
encouraged me to form my own relationships and
gave me major responsibility in the community.
Most importantly, Bob always took great pleasure in all of my successes,"
Peter noted.
The Fittermans have
lived in St. Louis for the past several years, where their daughter
Susan Witte is a Senior Planning &
Allocations Associate at the Jewish Federation of St. Louis.
AJCOP Norman Edell Fellow
for 2006: Tova Grunes

Tova Grunes, Young Leadership
Director of the Jewish Federation of Greater East Bay, receives the AJCOP
Edell Fellowship for 2006 from Edell Awards Committee Chair Alan Engel at the
AJCOP Awards Reception at the UJC General Assembly in Los Angeles.
Tova Grunes is Young Leadership Director
at the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay. Highlights of the
position have included putting on the largest East Bay young adult gathering
every fall with what started at around 350 people in 2004 and grew to over 700
in 2006. Since she joined the Federation in November
2004, its Young Leadership Division database has doubled and its YLD
campaign has quadrupled. Originally from Minneapolis, Tova grew up very
involved in the Jewish community attending synagogue, UAHC and Habonim camps.
She spent many summers working at Camp Teko in Minneapolis as a counselor,
cook and eventually assistant director. Tova served on local and regional NFTY
boards and attended the UAHC Biennial in Orlando, attended a North American
NFTY Board meeting in Toronto and spent four weeks at Kutz leadership camp in
New York. Tova graduated from Vassar College in New York, where she majored in
Urban Studies with concentrations in education and global health and
development, and earned a minor in Africana Studies. She spent five
months studying health and development in Kenya and Tanzania (and can speak
Swahili). Her time in East Africa transformed her outlook on the human
condition and the responsibility that each of us has to respond to people in
great need. In the last several years Tova has become a certified HIV test
counselor and an Emergency Medical Technician, danced with a repertory
company, worked as a professional cook, and become a voracious baseball fan.
Tova is thrilled to be in a position that inspires her daily. She is grateful
for the opportunity to work with dedicated and inspiring volunteers and
colleagues and feels so fortunate to have a fulfilling position as a Jewish
communal professional in the vibrant East Bay Jewish community.
Past AJCOP Awardees
Professional of the Year Award
1990: Andrew Paller
1989: Joel Daner
1986: Harriet Hoffman
Distinguished Service Award
2006: Maxyne Finkelstein
2005: Jacob Solomon
2004: Jay Yoskowitz
2003: Dr. John Ruskay
2002: Dr. Jeffrey R. Solomon
2001: Cindy Chazan and Stephen H. Hoffman
2000: Max L. Kleinman
1999: Peter H. Wells
1998: Darrell Friedman and Norbert Fruehauf
1997: Howard M. Rieger
1996: Ferne Katleman
1995: Stephen Solender
1994: Michael Schneider
1993: Martin Kraar
1992: Melvyn H. Bloom
1991: Dr. Steven B. Nasatir
1990: Irving Kessler
1989: Ben M. Mandelkorn*
1988: Charles Miller and Carmi Schwartz
1987: Ted Kanner
1986: Irving Bernstein*
Retiree of the Year Award
2006: Robert Fitterman
2005: Ted Comet & Martin Waxman
2004: Daniel Mann
2003: Merv Lemmerman
2002: Hans Mayer
2001: Morris Stein
2000: Gerald Bubis and Ernest Kahn
1999: Herman S. Markowitz
1998: Melvin S. Cohen
1997: Maurice Bernstein* & Daniel Thursz*
1996: Melvin S. Zaret
1995: Phillip Bernstein* & Irving Kessler
1994: Sanford Solender* and David Zeff*
1993: Donald Feldstein
1992: Saul Schwarz*
1991: Henry Zucker*
1990: Charles Zibbel
1989: Isidore Sobeloff*
Norman Edell Fellowship Award
2006: Tova Grunes
2005: Adam Bronstone
2004: Bari Elias
2002: Jeffrey Rips
2001: Ziva Starr Raney
2007
Mandelkorn Award Committee:
Maxyne Finkelstein, Chair
Carole-Ann Levine, Herman Markowitz, Richard Meyer, Steven Morrison, Mitch
Orlik, Howard Ross, Eli Skora, Becky Sobelman-Stern, Jacob Solomon, Moe Stein,
Peter Wells, Alan Engel and Lou Solomon.
2006 Rosichan
Retiree of the Year Award Committee:
Morris Stein, Chair
Jerry Bubis, Herman Markowitz, Hans Mayer, Merv Lemmerman, Melvin Zaret,
William Bernstein and Louis Solomon
2007 Edell
Fellowship Committee:
Jeffrey Feld,
Chair
Mandy Kaiser Blueth, Michael Dzik, Bari Elias, David Edell, Michael
Rassler, Alan Engel and Louis
Solomon.
AJCOP 2005 Rosichan
Retirees of the Year
Ted Comet and
Martin Waxman

Bob Hiller presents the AJCOP Rosichan
Retiree of the Year Award
to
Marty Waxman with Lou Solomon, AJCOP Exec. The award is a
framed page from the Moss
Hagaddah.

Ted Comet received the AJCOP Rosichan Retiree of the Year Award from Max
Kleinman at the GA in Toronto. Ted quipped that he didn't retire, but was
"re-tired"--with new tread he will keep rolling along until at least
120.
AJCOP
2005 Mandelkorn Distinguished Service Award
Jacob Solomon

Jacob Solomon receives the 2005
Mandelkorn Distinguished Service Award from his friend and colleague Jeffrey
Klein at the AJCOP Annual Meeting and Professional Development Day.
AJCOP
2004 Rosichan
Retiree of the Year
Daniel Mann

Burt Lazarow (R) presents the
Rosichan Retiree of the Year Award for 2004
to his old friend Danny Mann, with Danny Allen, Max Kleinman and
Lou Solomon.
Endowed by Florence Hutner Rosichan in memory of her beloved husband, long time Jewish
Federation Executive, Arthur Rosichan, the AJCOP Rosichan Retiree of the Year Award is
presented to a retired Jewish community organization professional who has had a
distinguished career, has served as a role model, and who, during retirement, continues to
make a contribution to the field.
Beginning with the
influence of his family, his Jewish education, and his youth activity in his
native Cincinnati and continuing to this day, Daniel Mann has always tried to
serve as a volunteer in the community. Now he is a retired Jewish communal
worker and educator, but in the years in which he was both a professional and
an academic, he felt that volunteer work complemented those roles—and urged
the same in dealing with students, interns, and younger workers.
Since his retirement
in the 1980’s, he has had an opportunity to contribute even more as a
volunteer, both locally and nationally. Mann served previously as executive
director of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington and, before
that, as national coordinator of the American Zionist Movement in New York.
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Mann graduated from the University of Chicago,
received his M.A. from Columbia University, and completed Ph.D. course
requirements in American Government at Georgetown University. In the 1950’s,
he also studied at Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago and
participated in one of the earliest long-term Israel-experience programs for
North American Jewish youth under the sponsorship of Habonim. From 1979 to
1991 Mann served as international director of the B’nai B’rith Israel
Commission. In 1988, a major project of that agency, the Active Retirees in
Israel (ARI) program, won the coveted William J. Shroder Award of the Council
of Jewish Federations (now the United Jewish Communities) for superior
initiative and achievement in the field of community-service programming. In
1990 he staffed the B’nai B’rith committee that negotiated the affiliation
of that organization with the World Zionist Organization and by extension the
Jewish Agency. Mann is a past president of the Jewish Communal Service
Association of North America, the Founding Chair of the Habonim Dror
Foundation and serves on the Editorial Board of the Jewish Frontier and the
governing bodies of several national Jewish organizations. He is an Honorary
Fellow of the World Zionist General Council and has served on several
committees of the Jewish Agency for Israel. In the Greater Washington
community he is the chair of the Isaac Franck Jewish Public Library (a project
of the local Board of Jewish Education), a director of the Jewish Historical
Society, and a member of the Israel and Overseas Committee of the Jewish
Federation.
Much of the
inspiration for the above comes from his wife, Elaine, who had a distinguished
career in the center field, including seven years as COO—one as acting CEO—of
the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington. She was the first recipient
of the AJCP Center Worker of the Year Award and served on that Board, as well
as an officer of JCSA. (They may be the only couple in which both spouses were
JCSA officers.) Since her retirement, she has been an active volunteer in the
community, including the chairing of the Yiddish Culture Festival in 2003, a
nationally recognized event in Washington.
AJCOP
2004
Mandelkorn Distinguished Service Award
Jay Yoskowitz

Mel Bloom (L) presents the
Mandelkorn Distinguished Service Award for 2004 to Janet Yoskowitz, who
accepted the award on behalf of her husband, Jay (busy working for the Jewish
People in Israel.
Jay Yoskowitz
has spent his entire professional career serving Jewish organizations locally
and nationally throughout the United States. Beginning as the Regional
Director for the B’nai B’rith organization in Texas and Oklahoma in 1970,
he currently serves as Senior Vice President for the American Technion
Society. He has lived in his present home in Westchester County, New York
since 1981, at which time he moved to the Council of Jewish Federations as
Director of the Department of Personnel Services from having served as
Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines. Jay went on
to serve as the Executive Director Greenwich Jewish Federation, National Field
Director Jewish National Fund, Associate Executive Vice Chairman and Executive
Vice Chairman of the United Israel Appeal and Senior Associate Executive Vice
President/ Chief Operation Officer and Executive Vice President of the Council
of Jewish Federations. He is proud of the fact that his three children have
lived in the same home throughout their elementary, high school and college
experience. Seth, his son, who is married to Karen Edell Yoskowitz, is an
environmental engineer and lives in Bethesda, MD. Joy, his daughter lives in
Manhattan and is employed by Price Waterhouse as a consultant and his other
daughter, Rebecca lives in Virginia where she is employed by Emily’s List.
Janet, his wife of 31 years, is a senior adjunct instructor at Westchester
Community College. Jay served as a member of the Board of Directors of Beth El
Synagogue Center and is a member of the Synagogue 2000 Team, Ritual Committee
and the Personnel Committee. Jay received an Honorary Doctorate from Hebrew
Union College in 2004. He is honored to receive the AJCOP Mandelkorn
Distinguished Service Award for 2004 and joins a distinguished list of prior
recipients.