09/05/2024

Jewish Federation of Cleveland Breeds National, World Leaders

Tags: Federation

BRAEDON OLSEN | CJN

Article reprinted with permission from Cleveland Jewish News, as part of their "Jewish Federation of Cleveland 120th Anniversary" Special Section.

For 120 years, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland has supported Jewish life in Cleveland, around the United States and around the world. Many Clevelanders began their involvement with Jewish life at the Federation as officers, board members, campaign chairs and other roles. Their involvement with one of the oldest Federations in the country has led them to go on and become lay leaders of major Jewish organizations.

Here’s a look at some of those people.

Robert “Bobby” Goldberg

Robert “Bobby” Goldberg served as chair of the Federation board from 1997 to 2000. During his time with the Federation, he spent time with several committees, most notably serving as the first chair of the Beit Shean subcommittee. In this position, Goldberg played a pivotal role in establishing the Federation’s relationship with Beit Shean, Cleveland’s Israeli partner city. Goldberg also helped form the Ohio-Israel Chamber of Commerce.

Goldberg has remained active in the national Jewish community in addition to his time with the Federation. In addition to co-founding The Agnon School, now the Joseph and Florence Mandel Jewish Day School, he also served as board chair for the United Jewish Communities, now Jewish Federations of North America. In 2015, he was appointed North American co-chairman of the Ethiopian National Project, a role in which he has helped Ethiopian Jews settle in Israel, navigating cultural and economic barriers to “keep pace” with other Israelis.

Goldberg has been recognized by several organizations for his work in the Jewish community. In 2007, he received the Charles Eisenman Award for Exceptional Civic Contributions, the Federation’s highest honor at the time. He was also named an honorary citizen of Beit Shean for his efforts to cultivate its partnership with Cleveland and with the Federation. Goldberg is the former CEO of AmTrust Bank, formerly Ohio Savings.

J. David Heller

J. David Heller served as board chair of the Federation from 2019 to 2022. Prior to his appointment as board chair, he had served as an officer of the Federation from 2007 to 2016, on the executive committee of the Federation’s board of trustees and as chair of the government relations committee. He also served as the 2013-14 general campaign chair, raising upward of $58 million over two years for the Campaign for Jewish Needs.

Heller has worked with several Jewish organizations in addition to the Federation, including serving on the boards of trustees of Jewish Community Housing and Gross Schechter Day School. He also served as board president of the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland and Ohio Jewish Communities. Currently, he is fulfilling a two-year term as national campaign chair of the Jewish Federations of North America, where he is leading the national campaign to drive philanthropic growth and advancing key initiatives like LiveSecure, a phase of JFNA’s Ukraine campaign.

Heller has received several awards for his work in the community. He was named to the 2015 class of Cleveland Jewish News 18 Difference Makers, and he was inducted into the Shaker Schools Alumni Hall of Fame in 2022. He was also appointed to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council in 2009. Heller is president and CEO of The NRP Group, a development, construction and property management company headquartered in Cleveland.

Larry Kadis

Larry Kadis served as the chair of the Federation’s overseas connections committee, which aims to strengthen the global Jewish community through programming intended to create lasting change and improve Jewish life. The committee works with both Israel and with other Jewish communities around the world, including St. Petersburg, Russia. Kadis is also a past member of the Federation’s board of trustees.

His wife, Suellen Kadis, is currently on the Federation’s executive committee.

Beyond his work with the Federation, Kadis has served as chair of AIPAC Cleveland Council, Israel Bonds Cleveland and Cleveland chapter of American Friends of Hebrew University. Most notably, from 2016 to 2019 he served as national president of ORT America, a nonprofit organization that supports ORT’s global Jewish educational network. His term as president followed his role as chair of the executive committee of ORT America’s national board of directors. He also led a search committee in 2015 to select a new executive director of ORT America.

Kadis has been honored for his work in the Jewish community, including being named to the 2015 class of CJN 18 Difference Makers. He and his wife, Suellen, were also recipients of the 2016 Israel Bonds Israel69 Award for their dedication to Israel and the Jewish community. Kadis is president, CEO and co-owner of Federal Equipment Co., a supplier of used equipment for various industries in Cleveland.

Joe Kanfer

Joe Kanfer, a native of the Akron area, is a past chair of the Akron Jewish Federation who worked to sustain a safe and engaged Jewish community throughout the city, according to JewishAkron’s website. He focused on several social-justice issues like education, health care and poverty.

Kanfer served as board chairman of Jewish Education Service of North America from 1999 to 2002, working to improve Jewish education throughout the United States. In 2006, he took on the role as chairman of the United Jewish Communities, later renamed Jewish Federations of North America. As chairman, Kanfer oversaw the second-largest charity in the nation at the time, which included 155 federations across the country. He also served on the board of The Jewish Agency for Israel and The Lippman School.

Kanfer has earned numerous awards for his work, including the 2015 Bert A. Polsky Humanitarian Award from the Akron Community Foundation. He was also the recipient of the 2019 Visionary Entrepreneur Award at the eighth annual Bootstrap Bash, presented by the CJN and LaunchHouse. Kanfer is venturer and the former CEO of GOJO Industries, the Akron-based company that invented Purell.

S. Lee Kohrman

S. Lee Kohrman was active in the Federation’s David and Inez Myers Foundation, initially serving as one of nine board members before taking over as president of the philanthropic foundation in 1996. During Kohrman’s time with the foundation, it expanded its reach to hundreds of organizations with grants totaling over $120 million. He also helped establish the Myers Campership Program in 2012, which gives financial assistance to Jewish families who want to send their children to summer camps.

Kohrman has been involved in Jewish organizations around the world, including his role as chair of the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute in Jerusalem, an Israeli center for applied social research. He also preceded Bobby Goldberg as North American Co-Chairman of the Ethiopian National Project, serving in the role for a decade. Locally, he has served as President of the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland and as a trustee for the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization.

Kohrman’s work has earned him recognition in the Jewish community, including receiving the Federation’s Charles Eisenman Award in 2018. Additionally, the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland created the S. Lee Kohrman Award in Jewish Experiential Education in 2020, which is given annually to an outstanding “Beyond the Classroom” Jewish educator in Cleveland.

Michael Perlmuter

Michael Perlmuter has served on the Federation’s board of trustees, working to impact and improve Jewish life in Cleveland, Israel and over 70 more countries across the world. In addition to his involvement with the Federation, he has spent time as a member of the budget and finance committee of the Jewish Federations of North America. His wife, Shari, serves on the Federation’s development committee as a Life & Legacy co-chair.

In addition to his work with the Federation, Perlmuter has spent much time with ORT America, first serving as president of the board of trustees for the Ohio region of ORT America before becoming involved on the national level. He currently serves as chairman of the board of ORT America, formerly called national president of ORT America. He also serves as a member of the board of World ORT Foundation.

Perlmuter’s efforts in the Jewish community have earned him awards such as the Fairmount Temple President’s Award in 2018. The Perlmuter family was also honored with the 2022 ORT Maimonides Award, given to supporters of ORT for their dedication to strengthening Jewish life locally, nationally, and internationally. Perlmuter is CEO and general counsel for Sill Public Adjusters, a public insurance claims adjuster based in Cleveland.

Charles “Chuck” Ratner

Charles “Chuck” Ratner began his involvement with the Federation in the late 1960s. From 1988 to 1989, he served as general chair of the Jewish Welfare Fund Appeal, now the annual Campaign for Jewish Needs. He was also co-chair of the Jewish Welfare Fund’s high-school division when he was a student at Shaker Heights High School. In 2000, following the conclusion of Bobby Goldberg’s term, Ratner took over as board chair of the Federation.

Ratner’s Jewish involvement has not been limited to his work with the Federation. He has served on the board of the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation, and he was also the founding chair of the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland. He has also been involved with The Jewish Agency for Israel board since 2002, serving as chair of the education committee and then the budget and finance committee. From 2014 to 2017, he served as chair of the board of governors for The Jewish Agency.

In 2013, while he was the budget and finance chair of The Jewish Agency, Ratner was one of two Cleveland leaders to sit in on a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, along with Michael Siegal. Ratner is the former president and CEO, and later chairman of the board, of Forest City Enterprises, Inc., a national owner and developer of real estate that was previously based in Cleveland.

Michael Siegal

Michael Siegal served a term as board chair of the Federation from 2010 to 2013. Prior to that, he served a two-year term as chair of the annual Campaign for Jewish Needs, where he led fundraising of about $56.5 million in donations for local, national and international Jewish education and human services. He also chaired the Federation’s allocations committee and served nine years as a Federation officer.

Since his time with the Federation, Siegal has remained involved in Jewish organizations. He served as the chair of Jewish Federations of North America from 2012 to 2015, chairman of The Jewish Agency for Israel from 2017 to 2022 and chair of Israel Bonds from 2007 to 2010. Along with his wife, Anita, he established the Michael and Anita Siegal One Happy Camper Scholarship Fund with the Foundation of Jewish Camping.

Siegal has been widely recognized for his work, receiving the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor in 2022 from President Isaac Herzog, the highest civil medal awarded by the president of Israel. He was also named to the 2016 class of CJN 18 Difference Makers and later received the 2023 Sam Miller Lifetime Achievement Award. He is executive chairman of the board at Olympic Steel, Inc. in Bedford Heights.

Bob Sill

Bob Sill’s involvement with the Federation included serving on its board of trustees, working to enhance Jewish life both in Cleveland and around the United States and the world. Sill was not the only member of his family to be involved with the Federation. His son-in-law, Michael Perlmuter, also spent time on the Federation’s board, and his daughter, Shari, is on the Federation’s development committee.

Sill is a founding member of ORT’s Cleveland chapter. He later served as national president of American ORT and chairman of the board of World ORT. He also served on ORT’s national board for over 20 years. In addition to ORT, Sill also served on boards for the Cleveland Jewish News,, Mayfield Cemetery and the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo.

Sill was widely recognized for his impact on the Jewish community, earning several awards including ORT Man of the Year. In 2022, the Sill family was honored alongside the Perlmuter family with the ORT Maimonides Award, given to those involved with ORT who have demonstrated their commitment to improving Jewish life both locally and around the world. Sill died in 2018 at age 83.

Braedon Olsen is the David & Judy Zwick Family Fund Intern at the Cleveland Jewish News.

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