Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1994-12-22

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The Ohio Jewish Chronicle
Serving Columbus and the Central Ohio
Jewish Community since J9£2
VOLUME 72
NUMBER 52
DECEMBER 22,1994
19 TEVET 5755
Rabbis break bread
at Jordanian Embassy
page 2
Tearful telephone reunion
connects long-lost kin
page 3
The Jewish Itaveler
page 4
Shlock Bock Concert
to be held at Beth Jacob
page 5
ABOUT THE COVER
Regular donors to the Jewish Community Blood
Drive, Murray Ebner (left) and Larry Felsenthal
(right), arc pictured with Sol Derfler, pa$t
chairman of the drive, and Norman Cohen, who
manages the canteen (background right). Photo by
Lee Schulman.
EARLY DEADLINES
The deadline f6r the Dec. 29 issue of
the OJC is noon on Thursday, Dec. 22.
The deadline for the Jan. 5 issue is
noon on Dec. 29,
The OJC office will be closed on Monday, Dec. <?6,
and Monday, Jan. 2.
tmmkmmmm In The Chronicle #■«■■
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FrontPage ,.,. .,2
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COMMUNITY FEATURE
New Foundation Fund
to endow future Community Blood Drives
By Ina Horwitz-Whitmore -
The Jewish Community
Blood Donor Council is getting a big shot in the arm. For-,
mer Columbus business executive Richard Lieberman, now
of Punta Gorda; Fla., has established the "Richard Lieberman
Perpetual Life Blood Donor
Endowment" at the Columbus
Jewish Foundation to support
all operating expenses of the
Council's blood drives in perpetuity.
Believed to be the first endowed blood drive in central
Ohio, it may also be the first of
its kind in the country, according to Foundation President
Myer Mellman.
■ The Council has been holding blood drives since 1949.
Currently, they are conducted
semiannually at both Beth Tikvah and the Leo Yassenoff Jewish Community Center before
the Christmas and July 4th
holidays.
Lee Schulman gave his 100th
pint of blood at the Center.
Schulman has been a regular
donor since first asked in the
early 1970s. He also gives blood
though a special procedure
known as "apheresis," which
lasts about two hours (normal
blood donations1 take about an
hour). The process provides a
match with a specific recipient,
such as a burn or cancer victim.
"I give blood regularly, because my father passed away
from cancer, it really hit
home," he said. "Once I started, I couldn't think of a good
reason to stop."    '
Past chairman and a founder
of the Jewish Community
Blood Donor Council, Richard Grundstein, is thrilled
with the endowment set up by
Lieberman through the Foundation.
"What this wonderful gift
does is to unfetter our Council
from the responsibility of rais
ing funds each year (which
have amounted to about $4,000
annually to meet blood drive
expenses) so we can concentrate on getting donors," he
said.
Grundstein noted that when
the Foundation firstoffered to
help endow the Council, he
never expected that one person would be responsible for
.iti'
This is one of many philanthropic Jewish contributions
that Lieberman has made to
Jthe community, Grundstein
said. Lieberman, like his father, is a Columbus native. He
has made his permanent home
in Florida since 1988 with
wife, Michelle. Yet he still
maintains a strong sense of
commitment to the Columbus
Jewish Community.
"I make my biggest contributions to Columbus," he noted in a telephone interview.
"The community is still number one in my book."
An East High School gradur
ate and attendee of The Ohio
State University, the former
Council has long tradition
, The Jewish Community Blood Donor Council has been
iir* operation for over 45 years. It began in 1949 when the
late Sylvia Schecter, its first chair, approached the American Red Cross under the auspices of the B'nai B'rith
Women, with the idea that the Columbus Jewish Community would like to do its fair share in recruiting blood
donbr$, according to Richard Grundstein.
At the tinted there were some 300 B'nai B'rith Women
participants, and the men from what was then the "Zion
Lodge 62 of B'nai BVith'* helped the women, Grundstein
noted. . .    .
, in addition to Schecter and Grundstein, the late Fred
Yenkin and Marjorie Gross were all vice-chairs in the
early years. The Council recruits donors from all the
major Columbus Jewish organizations, including the seven area synagogues. Volunteers conduct all aspects ofthe
drives, including telethons to recruit donors as well as
monitoring, and making and serving refreshments on the
day ofthe drives, , ■ .-
The Council holds drives around July 4th and Christmas, since these are times of extreme blood shortages.
"That became the opportune time for us as Jews to fill
in to get donors," said Grundstem. >■
. With its 100 volunteers, the Council recruits about 650
donors yearly. Red Cross officials have told Council
members not to slaken its efforts, for it could not meet the
average demand for 550 pints daily without the Council's
assistance, Grriudstem noted.
-._,''The Red Cross's regional plant at $95 B7Broad St
services 47 hospitals in 28 mid-Ohio counties daily on
demand throughout the whole year.      ,
.   The Council's future goal is to expand efforts to recruit
1,800 donprs yearly. Local blood drives protect^*} million people in Central Ohio, including the whole Jewish,
community, noted Grundstein.
=  "It's fm if they have the,blood*" he said,' "We are:,
. helping make wre «t is there?'
t^-.. '.     .- '.;,'/-.,' ..77..    '-.. ....... -J:..'.'--' ffiff
Bexley resident was associated
with Capital Bag &nd Burlap
Company, Ludlow Sales and
various real estate interests.
Always very active in Jewish communal affairs, Lieberman is a lifelong member and
trustee of Congregation Tifereth Israel, serving as its president from 1968 to 1972andas
treasurer for many years. Lieberman was instrumental in
building the Leo Yassenoff
Jewish Center. He was involved with Wexner Heritage
House and the Columbus Jewish Federation, working on
various Federation campaigns
and committees, particularly
in the field of Jewish education.
Lieberman artd his late wife, ~
Evelyn, had three children.
Sons Larry and Jeff live in Columbus, and daughter, Sharon
Good, resides in Evanston, 111.
He also has six grandchildren.
He often returns to Columbus
to visit family and friends and
to take care of his real estate
business.   ■   -   .-
"Dick Lieberman has been
one ofthe most devoted leaders of Congregation Tifereth
Israel for many decades," stated Rabbi Harold Berman.
"His speciality as president,
and after his presidency for
many yeap as treasurer, was a
careful eye on financial administration, always making
sure that funds were in place
to complete anything that the
congregation began. His special gift to the community offers another dimension of this
particular concern, making
sure that the funds will be in
place for the community to engage in this vital program for
years, indeed for decades to
come."
Sondra Osipow, one of this
year's blood drive co-chairs
along with Richard Sabgir,
called Lieberman, whom she
see FUND pg. 4
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