Jewish Pres*
c
NE HIST SOCIETY
Serving Nebraska and Western Iowa tor more than 75 years VoLLXXVI
No. 19
Omaha,NE
Abe Baker dies; founder of Baker's Supermarkets Abe Baker, founder of Baker's Supermarkets, died Jan. 15 at the age of 95. Graveside services were held Jan. 17 at Beth El Cemetery. A memorial service and reception followed at Friedman Social Hall at Temple Israel. He was preceded in death by his wife, Helen. Survivors include sons - and daughters-in-law, Jack and Judy Baker and Robert and Sonya Baker, all of Omaha; daughter and son-in-law, Debbie . and Jim: Krasne' of ' Scottsdale, AZ; sister and . brother-in-law, Ruth and I Isadore Wutkin of Sioux I City; eight grandchildren I and eight great-grandI children.. '; : Abe Baker The son of poor Russian immigrants, Abe developed Baker's from a tiny grocery store into a company which 71 years later consists of 22 supermarkets in Nebraska and Oklahoma. The company employs 4,600 associates. Baker's hallmark as a businessman was his commitment to customers. He led by example, working on the sales floor, bagging groceries and interacting with customers. Women, will always remember, ^ his gifts of tiny bottles of perfume. His favorite phrase is often repeated by associates:."The customer signs our paychecks." (Continued on page 6)
5 Shevat, 5759
Building rises in JCC addition
Looking south from the parking lot to the back grounds of the Jewish Community Center, the new Sokolpf Health and Fitness Center is currently under construction. According to Mike Collier, Campus Manager, tjje ramp to the racquetball.courts has been removed, tennis courts demolished, site work and drainage relocation underway, footings poured, and walls are under construction. The next step will be delivery and installation of the steel framing for the fitness center. Less then $250,000 is needed to complete the fundraising for the Building Project
Endowment Achievement Award recognizes Shirley and Bud Goldstein .
by Claudia Sherman, Foundation Public Relations Coordinator
In honor of their "generous support of local and national Jewish and secular charities,'' Shirley and Bud Goldstein have been named by the Council of Jewish Federations/United Jewish Appeal as 1998 recipients of the Endowment Achievement Award. The Award is presented annually to community leaders whose vision and dedication have been instrumental to the successful growth of their Federation's endowment funds. The Goldsteins were nominated by the Omaha Jewish Federation Foundation. 1997 recipients of the Endowment Achievement .Award were Henry and Dorothy Riekes. Previous Omaha recipients included Isadore Tretiak, Jule Newman, Howard Kaslow, Mort Trachtenbarg, Murray Newman, Morton Richards, David Friedland, Harlan Noddle and Joseph Kirshenbaum, and Phil and Terri Schrager. . "We strongly support the work of the Jewish Federation"Foundation of Omaha," agreed the Goldsteins. "The Foundation provides the forum where donors channel their major charitable gifts. They are the insurance policy for many of the continuing programs and capital improvements in the • Jewish community when they are not able to come up with funding from the budgetary process." Through two endowment funds, the Goldsteins have provided scholarships to attend Jewish camps and support for the'Federation library to purchase literary and educational material, sponsor lectures, classes, programs and services of interest or to benefit Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union. ; ' The couple also established an endowment fund at,the University of Nebraska at Omaha to subsidize an annual lecture on human rights.
January 22,1999
Staff selected for Artza'99 by Lisa Shkolnick, Artza Director
For the past 25 years, Mrs. Goldstein has been Omaha natives Andy Ruback and Gary instrumental in supporting Refuseniks in the for- Shyken,will join me in staffing the upcoming teen mer Soviet Union. She worked with Nebraska sen- trip to Israel. Both have former Israel experience ators, United States presidents, and government andboth prove to be an excellent asset to our team. agencies, keeping them informed of the condition Andy Ruback is pursuing" r of Soviet Jews and campaigning for their release. his Bachelor of Arts in| With the help of the Jewish Federation of Omaha, Communication Studies! Mrs. Goldstein brought the first of more than 200 from Belleyue UniversityJ families from the former Soviet Union to resettle in He is.currently working a t | Omaha. • First'National Bank of She has been recognized by the Union of Omaha. His prior work! Councils for Soviet Jews for her work, honored by experience includes consec-p the Jewish Federation with its Humanitarian utive years as a JCC coun1 Award and by the University of Nebraska at selor for both day and ; Omaha with an Honorary Doctorate of Humane overnight JCC camps. He is Letters. She was also a nominee for the United also a past Artza participant. Andy Ruback Way's Volunteer of the Year award. Together, Shirley and Bud Goldstein provided Gary Shyken is no stranger to the Omaha Jewish funds for charities working to free Soviet Jews. jCommunity either. His forBud Goldstein, now retired, owned a successful Imer employment includes truck rental business. A leader in the-Omaha jAssistant Director of Camp Jewish community, he served as Federation presii-v;,-4Jay-C-C. He completed his dent and has been involved in numerous annual •-"•.Bachelor of Arts degree at Federation campaigns. He also was chairman of '.-' -Indiana University in 1998, the campaign to raise funds for the Rose Blumkin . |majoring in Political Jewish Home. -•^Science and Judaic Studies. ^Currently, he is finishing a Marty Ricks, Foundation Endowment Director, [fellowship with the Steinsaid, "Shirley and Bud joined other award recipiIhardt Jewish Campus ents whose names were included in this year's pro•Service Corp, assisting in gram for the General Assembly which recently con'the daily activities of runvened in Israel. All of us who attended the General Assembly .were proud to represent Omaha and sup- ning the Cleveland Hillel Foundation. port all the 1998 Endowment Achievement winShyken has been to Israel twice, as a participant ners, especially Shirley and Bud, who have con- on BBYO's March of the Living in 1992, and tributed so much of their time and resources to BBYO's Israel Summer Institute in 1993. make Omaha a wonderful place to live." • (Continued on page 6)