Class Correspondent

25th Reunion
June 7-9, 2013

Cantor Matt Axelrod wrote a book titled “Surviving Your Bar/Bat Mitzvah: The Ultimate Insider’s Guide.” Matt has been the cantor at Congregation Beth Israel in Scotch Plains, N.J., for more than 20 years. Lee Spirer joined Navigant as executive vice president in charge of the company’s consulting business. He had served as senior vice president and global business head at Kroll Risk & Compliance Solutions. Over the course of his 24-year career, Lee has served in key strategic and operational leadership roles in a range of professional and business services organizations, such as Dun & Bradstreet, IBM and Booz Allen Hamilton. David Kuznick received his JD, summa cum laude, from Suffolk University Law School on May 20, 2012, and accepted a position as an associate at Fish & Richardson in Boston. David worked as a principal software engineer at Gensym Corp. until 2007. He writes, “Twenty years of software development was enough. So what do I do? Go to law school and join an intellectual property firm where I primarily do software patent litigation!” Anita Kratzsch, the owner of the New England Bead Co. in Ashland, Mass., was the subject of a business profile in the MetroWest Daily News. New England Bead offers jewelry-making classes for adults and children, hosts children’s birthday parties, does jewelry repairs and has a drop-in jewelry-making studio and bead “bar.” Anita told the newspaper, “I’ve always had a passion for designing/creating fashion and home decor items. For me, though, it’s more than just a passion. I need to design and create. Design ideas (from fashion design to marketing ideas) just run like a stream in my head — nonstop.” The Ruderman Family Foundation, headed by Jay Ruderman, contributed a $4 million lead grant to expand the Israel Unlimited Partnership for Israeli adults with disabilities. The grant, which will be matched by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the government of Israel, will help expand the partnership’s work in the areas of inclusion and providing employment opportunities to the disabled. Stephanie Fine Maroun, MA’90, and her husband, Al, had four bar and bat mitzvahs for their children — Tirzah, 17; Judah, 16; Hillel, 14; and Hadas, 12 — in a span of 49 months. Stephanie works as the events planner in the Office of Admission at Solomon Schechter Day School in Newton, Mass. In addition to facilitating open houses and other recruitment events, she runs and collaborates on a number of programs that often bring her into contact with Brandeis alumni. She writes, “It’s always a lot of fun to find out someone went to Brandeis and then to reminisce while also comparing notes about how the school has changed and grown.”

Enjoying the Alumni Club of Greater Boston's 13th annual holiday reception at the Rose Art Museum.

ARTFUL CELEBRATION. Doug Rosner ’88, president of the
Alumni Club of Greater Boston; Fellow Detlev Suderow ’70,
P’05; President Fred Lawrence; Ellen Beth Lande ’73, P’05;
and Chris Bedford, the Henry and Lois Foster Director of the
Rose Art Museum, enjoy the club’s 13th annual holiday
reception at the Rose. More than 200 alumni, parents and
friends joined in the festivities.

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