AJCOP AWARD WINNERS
AJCOP 2007 Mandelkorn
Distinguished Service Award:
Phyllis Cook & Jeffrey L. Klein
Phyllis Cook (R) is presented her AJCOP Mandelkorn Distinguished Service Award by Maxyne Finkelstein, AJCOP Awards Chair for 2007.
Jeffrey L. Klein (R) is presented his AJCOP Mandelkorn Distinguished Service Award by Jacob Solomon.
Phyllis Cook has been the Executive Director of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund and Associate Director of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties since 1983. The Endowment Fund assets have grown in that time from $27 million to $2.8 billion in 2007 and annual grants to the community have increased from $4 million to more than $200 million. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Michigan with graduate study at the University of California, Berkeley. She presently serves on 4 private foundations and oversees the Federation’s 72 supporting foundations, 868 philanthropic funds and restricted funds. She serves on the Advisory Board of the Brandeis University Steinhardt Social Research Institute. After nearly a quarter-century at the helm, Phyllis Cook has announced she will step down as executive director of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Endowment Fund and as associate executive director of the Jewish Community Federation. Her departure is set for June 30, 2008. A native of Idaho Falls, Idaho, Cook joined the endowment as director in January 1983. At the time, the fund had less than $28 million in assets, and distributed $4 million in grants. At last count, the endowment claimed more than $2.6 billion in assets and allocated more than $200 million in grants over the past year. "During her tenure, Phyllis has created one of the largest, if not the largest, federation endowment funds in the country, as well as numerous innovative programs associated with endowment," said endowment committee chair Richard Rosenberg. "Fortunately, she has also had the ability to attract and retain a superior staff, so when Phyllis retires, the federation has the people to carry on the legacy she established." Cook says she will continue working privately with donors and institutions, Jewish and non-Jewish, to "help them achieve their philanthropic objectives, and help them repair the world."
Jeffrey Klein has been the Chief
Executive Officer of the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County since April
1986, and is one of America’s senior chief executives. During this period, the
Federation has grown substantially from a campaign of $6.6 million to a Campaign
that exceeded $32 million in 2007. Foundation assets have increased more than 25
fold. Several times during his tenure, the Federation has won national awards as
the best Federation/UJA Annual Campaign in the country. The services in the
community have grown geometrically under Jeffrey’s leadership, while the
Federation has remained strong in support of overseas needs. During his tenure,
the community has built its central facilities, including state-of-the-art
Campuses in West Palm Beach and in Boynton Beach/Lake Worth. Many of the
agencies and services that exist today were created during his tenure. The
Federation has also been expanded with the commencement of the Fund for Jewish
Continuity, Partnership 2000, Israel Program Center, educational initiatives,
lay and professional leadership development and this year, both collaborative
fundraising and strategic planning initiatives. In recent years, major
initiatives for Ethiopian Jewry, Youth Futures, and a broad array of programs in
St. Petersburg, Russia have been added to our successful Partnership 2000
relationship. One of the major Federations in the country, the Jewish Federation
of Palm Beach County is now one of the largest elective overseas funders in the
national system and is highly regarded as a model of excellence on a national
and international level. As Chief Executive Officer, Jeffrey is
principally responsible for execution of the policies established by Federation’s
Board of Directors for the community’s Central Fund Raising, Planning and
Allocating body. On a national level, Jeffrey has served as Chairman of the
Large City Executives Group for North America Federations, as a member of the
United Jewish Communities’ Executive Committee, as a member of its Israel and
Overseas Pillar, currently serves in Renewal and Renaissance, and has served as
one of four associate professional members of the Jewish Agency Executive. An
attorney by background, Jeffrey previously practiced real estate and corporate
law for a number of years.
AJCOP Norman Edell Fellow for 2007: Emilie Kuperman
Emilie Kuperman (R) is presented her AJCOP Norman Edell Fellowship Award by Jeffrey Feld, AJCOP Edell Fellowship Award Chair for 2007.
Emilie Kuperman is the Development Director of the Tampa Jewish Federation. Previously, the Women's Division Director for the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland, she holds a Masters degree in Nonprofit Management and has been working in the Federation system for 4 years. Emilie finds working with a young Jewish Community through a functional Federation to be exciting, and relishes in opportunities to creatively implement new development initiatives. She is also an avid tap dancer.
AJCOP 2006 Mandelkorn Distinguished Service Award: Maxyne Finkelstein
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 Award2006: 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 Raney2007 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 Solomon2007 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 AwardJacob 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.
Updated
November 27, 2006