It was a sad month for us at the Levis JCC. We lost 2 of our Levis JCC Past-Presidents,. They were world-class leaders and friends. Betty C. Stone, our 2nd JCC President, and Jerry Milgram, our 6th JCC President.
Betty Stone
I first met Betty in 1984 when I began my involvement at the JCC. I was 30 years old and my daughter Barrie was in the 2s in Camp Maccabi, which was the name of our camp. During our JCC’s early days, we were housed on the Baer Campus on Spanish River Blvd in East Boca – our Center was an old Church building.
As JCC President, one of Betty’s hot buttons was bringing “young people” onto the Board (you need to remember that in 1984 there were not a lot of young people in Boca Raton or Delray Beach – we were predominantly a retirement / snowbird community) I was asked to become a JCC Board Member in 1984 during her Presidency. Betty ran our JCC Board meetings with great style. Her meetings were always efficient and organized, just like her. Betty became one of my role models, along with other amazing strong women leaders like Dottie Lipson & Marianne Bobick. Betty was a “take no prisoners” sort of person. While she had no patience for wasting time, she taught me that time spent planning for the future was well spent.
Established Benefactor Program
Betty created our first Fund Raising development program, the JCC Benefactors, which was the prelude to all our current Fund Raising Development programs. Later on Betty & her husband Norman dedicated the Wall of Honor which is located in our Sports, Health & Wellness building, which lists the donors to our Agency.
As I mentioned earlier, Betty’s priority was insuring the future of our Agency’s leadership. Betty & Norman established the Betty C & Norman I Stone Leadership Award in 1984. This was not just a plaque; the award really was a trip to the JCCA National Biennial Conference, again part of Betty’s wisdom in the training & development of Board Members. I was privileged to receive that award from her in 1986.
After Betty’s presidency, she became our perennial Nominating Committee Chair and was instrumental in my ascendency to the JCC Presidency. By the way, for all the NomCom members who have served on the Nominating Committee under my leadership in the past few years, it was modeled under Betty’s influence.
Jerry Milgram
Jerry Milgram, my dear friend and our 6th JCC President. I remember when Allan Just (our former executive director) & I asked Jerry to become the JCC President. Jerry did not want to do it but finally agreed for the “greater good”.
Jerry was the ultimate mid-west gentleman. Always calm and collected, he was the perfect leader to follow the 4 fairly tumultuous years of my brash “New York attitude” Presidency. We had been on our new campus for 5 years. Our Center had gone through a huge growth spurt from 100 members to 10,000 members without having the infrastructure in place to really handle the explosion. We were literally holding the place together with volunteers; our membership list was on index cards; we were overwhelmed.
Allan Just always wisely explained that every President brings something special to the JCC and Jerry piloted our Agency into a more peaceful, planful existence. Under Jerry’s administration, we began our first strategic plan and took our first steps to our new future.
Jerry and his wife Macky were very involved in the arts – Macky being an amazing and talented sculptor who even exhibited in our Rosen Gallery. Along with Phyllis Golden and Madeline Pargh, Jerry pushed our Cultural Arts department into the forefront of our JCC programming. Because of Jerry’s efforts, our little department has evolved into the powerhouse that we now call Arts, Culture & Learning.
At the Biennial
Jerry was the consummate gentleman. I can remember his first JCCA Biennial in New York, where he escorted us through the streets of the city and worried that a group of girls were going out on the town at night without male supervision. I can also still remember the limo ride at the Boston Biennial where we crowded 15 people into a car for 8 and drove through Little Italy looking for a restaurant. He made sure everyone was always included and was always willing to extend himself to make sure we were taken care of.
Under Jerry’s guidance, our JCC committed to and started the planning for our first JCC Maccabi Games. Under Jerry’s guidance we planned and carried out the first community Israel Fest, welcoming over 10,000 people onto our campus for entertainment, a community carnival, for shopping in the shuk and noshing falafel in the food court. And, under Jerry’s guidance we continued to build our donor base and leadership tracks.
While Jerry might have thought of himself as mild, I always thought of him as a tiger, clawing for everything he could for the future of our Agency.
Betty & Jerry, every morning when I walk past the Wall in the Sports, Health & Wellness building with the framed portraits of the Levis JCC Presidents, I will think of you both. Without you, our JCC would not be the special place we know and love today.