Brandeis Magazine

Martin Alintuck was named managing partner in Singapore at KREAB, a global consultancy with offices in 25 countries. Martin has spent more than 15 years in Asia. Robert Barsky, chair of the Department of French and Italian at Vanderbilt, has received a secondary appointment in the Vanderbilt School of Law. He recently authored the book “Undocumented Immigrants in an Era of Arbitrary Law: The Flight and the Plight of People Deemed ‘Illegal.’” His novel “Hatched!” will be published this year. Leah Binder was named one of the 25 top women in health care by Modern Healthcare magazine. She serves as president and CEO of the Leapfrog Group, a national nonprofit that rates hospitals on their quality and safety. She’s been married to Sam Elowitch ’92 for 18 years. They have two children — Henry, 17, and Fanya, 9 — and live in Rockville, Maryland. Lauri Croce has opened her own law office in San Diego, just two miles from her home. She specializes in representing common-interest developments throughout Southern California. Alyson Distel reports that her husband, Steve, passed away. One of her sons is an attorney, and the other is in college. Alyson started her own business specializing in financial services and systems analysis, and moved to West Orange, New Jersey. Jewish educator and award-winning children’s book author Heidi Smith Hyde, P’12, was inspired to write her latest book, “Shanghai Sukkah,” more than 15 years ago when she learned about Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat to Lithuania who saved the lives of thousands of Jews by issuing travel visas that allowed them to flee Nazi rule through passage to Japan. Many of those saved went on to resettle in Shanghai, where they lived in the poor neighborhood of Hongkew, which came to be known as the “Shanghai Ghetto.” Ted Kaufman added another check to his bucket list, becoming the 60th president of his 172-year-old congregation, Ohef Sholom Temple, in Norfolk, Virginia. With approximately 750 families, it’s the largest Reform temple between Baltimore and Charleston, South Carolina. Writes Ted, “Running it is like having a second full-time job and being the president of more than 750 presidents! My father, grandfather and other relatives served as well, so I’m following in my ancestors’ footsteps (with the same problems they had).” In October 2015, Dennis Kelleher celebrated his fifth anniversary at Better Markets, the nonprofit he founded when he left the U.S. Senate staff in 2010. With a 19-person staff located in Washington, Brussels, London and Boston, Better Markets fights for the public interest in financial reform to ensure economic security, opportunity and prosperity for American families. Rebecca Laszlo made the transition from the computer software field into a second career working to end homelessness. For the past year, she’s been the housing manager at Valley Cities, a nonprofit behavioral health agency operating in numerous locations south of Seattle. She lives in downtown Seattle with her partner (now spouse) of 30 years and one cat. Fun still includes lots of concerts, museums, biking, dining and travel. Linda (Cohen) Maurice has served as director of Nova Southeastern University’s Lifelong Learning Institute since 2010. She and her husband, Charles, live in Hollywood, Florida, with their daughter Sarina, 16. Daughter Meira is a tattoo artist, and son Arik is a rising senior studying mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Florida. Wendi Zelkin Rosenstein, P’18, P’18, is writing the “Lincoln Del Recipe Book” about the Berenberg family’s most-requested recipes and stories. Her East Quad roommates remember waiting for the bakery treats she would bring back to school after a visit home to Minneapolis. Her identical twin sons, Brett and Matthew, both ’18, attend Brandeis. Arnold (Arnie) Savenor is an orthopedic/hand surgeon with Needham Orthopedics and Sports Medicine/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He was recently named a top doctor in hand surgery by Cape Cod Magazine and South Shore Living magazine. He is also a clinical instructor in orthopedic surgery at Harvard. Steve Walker is director of the LIFE School, a lab school at Horace Greeley High School, in Chappaqua, New York. LIFE (Learning Interdependently From Experience) is a highly selective program for 55 juniors and seniors that emphasizes project- and problem-based learning, developing social and emotional intelligence, participating in internships and building a strong sense of community. A former U.S. diplomat, Steve left the State Department in 1993 and co-founded the Save Bosnia campaign, the first successful anti-genocide effort in the U.S.