Class Correspondent

  • Joan Furber Kalafatas
  • 3 Brandywyne
  • WaylandMA 01778
Beri Gilfix, M.A.’66, has helped revive the Adams Street Shul in Newton, Mass., which her grandfather helped found 100 years ago. The congregation of 60 families has a rabbi and holds weekly services. While today Newton is home to more than 15 Jewish congregations, the Adams Street temple was the area’s first. In 1992, the U.S. Department of the Interior added the shul to the National Register of Historic Places. Robert Beller sent in a note about the death of our classmate Joel Stein. Robert writes, “Joel passed away in July (2011) after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. Joel was born in Queens, N.Y., and grew up in Shaker Heights, Ohio, where his family had relocated. After Brandeis, Joel pursued graduate studies in Egyptology at Penn. He moved to New York to continue his work at New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts and fell in love with the city. He remained a consummate New Yorker for the rest of his life. Joel had many, many friends, both young and old, for whom he was mentor, tutor and teacher for some, respected adviser and confidant for others. Joel was a raconteur, Egyptologist, student of entomology, collector of robots, gourmand, chef and gracious host. He retired several years ago from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York after decades of service. For many years he hosted a weekly bridge get-together. As board chair of one of the premier coop buildings in Manhattan, he received a steady stream of supplicants asking for his blessing for renovations and his influence in getting a leaky faucet fixed or a noisy neighbor silenced. In retirement, Joel was a devoted volunteer teacher of English to non-native speakers. On a personal note: Joel and I met in the entryway of Fruchtman Hall the day we both arrived for freshman orientation and remained best friends until his death. My wife, our three sons and I have lost a beloved member of our family. Joel leaves his brother, David ’69, and David’s children, Mikhal Stein Bouganim ’92, Maya ’94 and Adam ’02.”
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