Brandeis Magazine

No Class Notes submissions this issue.

Rabbi Arthur Green, GSAS PhD’75, P’98, in May was awarded an honorary degree by the Jewish Theological Seminary, in New York City. He also delivered an address during the university’s commencement ceremonies.

Benjamin Lerner received the 2023 Alumni Impact Award from the Toll Public Interest Center at the University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School for his work on criminal justice reform in Philadelphia.

No Class Notes submissions this issue.

Michael Berger received the Jefferson B. Fordham Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association in August. The award recognizes the accomplishments of those who are active in state and local government law. Michael is senior counsel in the appellate division at law firm Manatt.

No Class Notes submissions this issue.

Bob Acker, who lives in Luang Prabang, Laos, is providing support to several projects: a scholarship and book-buying program at Souphanouvong University, the creation of a conservation lab at the National Museum, and the building renovation of three temples.

Paul Bloom is the longtime abbot of the New Haven Zen Center, one of the oldest Zen temples in the U.S.

At the 35th Annual Texas Environmental Superconference, Jeff Civins was honored with the creation of a Volunteer of the Year award named for him. Jeff has chaired the conference since its inception, developed and co-edits Thomson Reuters’ two-volume treatise on Texas environmental law, and has served as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas School of Law for more than 30 years.

Samuel Heilman, P’98, P’02, and wife Ellin (Kaufman) ’69, P’98, P’02, moved to Jerusalem in August 2020, after he retired as a professor of sociology and Jewish studies at CUNY’s Queens College and Graduate Center. He and members of the Class of 1968 still enjoy the weekly Zoom get-together they started during the pandemic. Participants include Henry Sussman (in NYC); Harris Gleckman (in Portland, Maine); Alan Goroll, Everett Fox, and Renee Brant (in Boston); Arthur Chernoff (in Philadelphia); David Soloff (in Chicago); Sarah John (sometimes near the Grand Canyon); Andy Ross and Joanna Weinberg (in California); and Gila (Schwartz) Svirsky and Ron Kronish (in Israel). “If any others in our class would like to join, let me know,” Samuel writes.

Stephen Herman reports, “Mirabile dictu, I am still practicing forensic child and adult psychiatry after 40-plus years. The work remains challenging. I also read a lot, alternating a classic or new novel with American history. And, in a healthy regression, I have returned to playing the 12-string guitar and singing songs from the folk music revival of the ’50s and ’60s, now called roots music (‘a rose by any other name …’).” Stephen is married to attorney Carol Soderquist, and has two stepdaughters and two grandsons.

In July, Judith Sachs was a presenter at the sixth World Parkinson’s Congress, in Barcelona. The program she developed, Anyone Can Move, supported by grants from the Parkinson’s Foundation and Johns Hopkins, shows Parkinson’s patients and care partners innovative ways to communicate, touch, and handle physical transfers and fall recovery.

Mark Simon, a principal at Centerbrook Architects & Planners, is finishing renovation work on the Yale Peabody Museum, which will be complete in early 2024. He has two new grandchildren: Olivia Renee (born in 2021) and Marcos Rafael (born in 2023). Mark’s son Tom and daughter-in-law Daliza Cabrera are the parents.

Dennis Sasso has retired from his role as rabbi at Congregation Beth-El Zedeck, in Indianapolis, after nearly 50 years of service.