Service and dedication to our city, the Jewish community, and our synagogue are the common threads linking the lives and character of the three couples honored at the East Midwood Jewish Center’s 84th Annual Journal Dinner last week: Marty and Jamie Markowitz, Sol and Ruth Lapidus, and Larry and Michele Isaacson.
Marty Markowitz has spent his entire adult life in service to the residents of Brooklyn. Born and raised in Crown Heights, a product of Wingate High School and Brooklyn College, Marty began his career in public service in 1971, organizing the Flatbush Tenants Council. He was elected to the New York State Senate in 1979, and served eleven consecutive terms representing Central Brooklyn. But his greatest aspiration was to serve all the people of Brooklyn, a goal he achieved when he was elected Brooklyn’s Borough President in 2001, and re-elected in 2005.
Marty Markowitz’s vigorous and enthusiastic advocacy for the more than 2.5 million residents of the borough has achieved dramatic, positive results. Concentrating on the core issues of housing, neighborhood preservation, and community development, Marty has overseen an historic renaissance taking place across the borough. There is a boom in housing construction, cruise ships mow dock at Brooklyn piers, hotels have sprung up, and zoning changes and landmarking have helped to preserve the unique characteristics of our neighborhoods. A cultural district is growing in Brooklyn, centered around the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Brooklyn has become a culinary destination rivaling Manhattan, with a myriad of cuisines to sample and its own restaurant row. Brooklyn became the first borough to have its own Tourism and Visitors Center.
Quality of life issues have been a major focus of Marty’s administration. He was instrumental in securing legislation to reduce automobile insurance rates for Brooklynites, cleaning up oil-contaminated Newtown Creek, founding the Brooklyn Center on Health Disparities, making funds available for neighborhood beautification, providing a summer camp for inner city kids at Marty’s Camp Brooklyn, and helping teens find summer jobs with his Summer HEAT program.
Marty Markowitz has been Brooklyn’s biggest promoter, greatest defender, and most enthusiastic cheerleader. A member of the East Midwood Jewish Center for twenty years, he is no less enthusiastic about our Center and its future.
Marty married his wife, Jamie, in 1999. They are the proud parents of Beep, an 8-year old African Grey Parrot.
Sol and Ruth Lapidus are Holocaust survivors, married for over 64 years. Throughout their lives they have served the Jewish People.
Born in Minsk, Sol was drafted into the Soviet Army in 1941 and trained as a demolition specialist. When Germany attacked the Soviet Union, he and thousands of Russian soldiers were captured and sent to prison camps. Sol escaped from his camp and joined the Partisans in the woods behind the German lines. As a demolition expert he personally blew up over seven German troop trains, and leading a demolition unit, he blew up more than thirteen other troop trains, as well as many bridges, tunnels, and rail switching points. He is one of the very few Jews to be awarded the Order of Lenin, the Soviet Union’s equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor. A few years after coming to the United States Sol established his own contracting business, and built many synagogues and Jewish schools in Brooklyn. Sol contributes his expertise to our Center, as an active member of EMJC’s House Committee.
Ruth was born in Lida, Poland. In 1942 she fled her village, having survived the Nazi massacre that took the lives of all but a few of her fellow villagers. She met Sol in the woods as the war was ending. They married and came to the United States in 1949. Ruth has always been actively involved in Jewish organizations. She is an honored member of ORT, where she has been Donor Chairman and Woman of the Year, and has been the organizing force in the Lida Memorial Society, an organization that provides funds to maintain the graves of the Jews who perished in Lida, Poland, and to educate the survivors, their children, and grandchildren.
Ruth and Sol have a son Jack, a daughter, Beverly and three grandchildren, Amanda, Danielle, and Samara.
Larry and Michele Isaacson are lifelong residents of Brooklyn and active participants in the life of the East Midwood Jewish Center. Larry is a graduate of Madison High School and CCNY, Michele received her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from Brooklyn College. Larry met Michele while both were teaching at P.S. 189 in Brooklyn. For many years now, Larry has been involved in his family’s office supplies business, and Michele has been a teacher in the New York City public school system. Larry is a Center trustee and vice president, and chair of the Bikur Holim Committee. Michele has been involved in many Center activities, including the membership, special events, and Rosh Hodesh dinner committees.
The Isaacsons are proud parents of daughters Mollie and Cora.