Bnai Zion Annual Gala will honor Lieberman and Staubach
The Bnai Zion Foundation will hold its Annual Texas Gala at 5 p.m., Monday, Nov. 4, at the Westin Galleria. The evening’s honorees are Dr. Zeck Lieberman and Dallas Cowboys legend Roger Staubach. Rabbi Mark Golub, founder of the Jewish Broadcasting Service, will serve as master of ceremonies for the evening. Proceeds from the gala will benefit Bnzai Zion Medical Center.
Zeck Lieberman
Zeck Lieberman, M.D., a native Texan born in Floresville, is a renown oncology surgeon who practiced an unprecedented 55 years at Baylor University Medical Center (BUMC, formerly known as Baylor Hospital) until his retirement in 2013.
He is recognized as one of Baylor’s finest leaders, serving as president of the medical staff, chairman of its medical board, and assistant chief of the department of surgery and chief of surgical oncology at the Sammons Cancer Center. In addition to his very active surgical practice, Dr. Lieberman was the Clinical professor of Surgery at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, President of the Dallas County Unit of the American Cancer Society and the Dallas Society of General Surgeons.
For his many accomplishments, Dr. Lieberman has had a Baylor building named in his honor (the Zelig H. Lieberman Research Building) as well as the JCC’s Lieberman Family Wellness Center. He has received a 50-year lifetime achievement from his alma mater, Tulane University School of Medicine, and was named “Father of the Year” in Dallas-Fort Worth in 2000, for his proud progeny Steve (Lisa), Susan (Michael) and Randy. L’Dor v’Dor, from generation to generation, he brings honor to his children and to his beloved community.
Roger Staubach
Roger T. Staubach, graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1965 with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering. He served four years as a Navy officer, after which he joined the Dallas Cowboys professional football team for a decadelong NFL career, during which he became a football legend. During this time, Staubach also began an illustrious career in real estate.
Before his retirement in July 2018, Roger was executive chairman of JLL Americas, a professional services firm specializing in real estate. With a 2017 global revenue of $7.9 billion, JLL serves clients in 80 countries from more than 1,000 locations worldwide, including 300 corporate offices and a global workforce of 82,000. Before joining forces with JLL, he was executive chairman of The Staubach Company, a market-leading global real estate advisory firm that delivered cost-effective solutions for office, industrial and retail clients.
Staubach served as the chairman of the Host Committee for Super Bowl XLV which was held in North Texas in 2011. He continues to be involved with The Children’s Cancer Fund, the United States Naval Academy Foundation, and numerous other civic, charitable, and professional organizations.
Tickets for the VAAD-supervised dinner and gala are $250 per person. To register visit https://www.bnaizion.org/events/annual-texas-gala-2019.
Beth Torah to honor Chuck Smith at 45th anniversary celebration
Congregation Beth Torah is celebrating its 45th anniversary on Nov. 2 with a dessert reception, a program reviewing the congregation’s history and the presentation of the Nat Cohen Award to Chuck Smith.
Smith, a former Beth Torah president who currently serves as gabbai, was an easy choice for the synagogue’s lifetime achievement award, said President Lynda Markowitz. “Chuck has meant so much to Beth Torah in so many ways,” she said. “We wouldn’t be the same without his selfless hard work, his indefatigable good cheer and, of course, his Hawaiian shirts.”
The celebration starts at 7:30 p.m. at the synagogue. Tickets are $45 per couple or $22.50 for individuals. For more information or to make reservations, call Beth Torah at 972-234-1542.
Wildenthal to be honored at inaugural Ackerman Dinner
The University of Texas at Dallas’ Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies in November will honor Dr. Hobson Wildenthal for his years of service to the Center and the University.
The public is invited to honor Wildenthal at the Ackerman Center Leadership Dinner, which will be held at 5:30 p.m., Nov. 17 at the Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center on the UT Dallas campus.
In his many roles at the University — interim president, executive vice president and provost— Wildenthal has taken a leading role in supporting the Ackerman Center and its mission to learn from the Holocaust.
“Dr. Wildenthal has demonstrated exceptional leadership and a commitment to promoting the education and increased awareness of the Holocaust and related human-rights issues,” said Dr. Nils Roemer, director of the Ackerman Center and interim dean of the School of Arts and Humanities. “His leadership has inspired multitudes of students and community members to become involved and engaged in ways that echo the mission of the Ackerman Center, that is, ‘teach the past and change the future.’”
The Ackerman Center Leadership Dinner will be hosted by John H. and Elizabeth S. Massey, who Roemer said have been instrumental not only in bringing the event to fruition, but in fostering a climate of remembrance in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area through their support of the Ackerman Center and The Dallas Holocaust Museum/Center for Education and Tolerance.
The dinner chairs for the event are Beth and Eddie Ackerman, the honorary chairs are Barbara and Burton C. Einspruch, and the board chairman is David B. Ackerman. His father, Edward M. Ackerman, was instrumental in establishing the Ackerman Center and supporting its programs.
James B. Milliken, chancellor of the University of Texas System, will be the featured speaker. Funds raised at the dinner will support the Ackerman Center Endowment that funds the year-round activities of the Center including graduate students’ research and public outreach activities.
For more than three decades, the Ackerman Center has developed an international reputation for the diversity of its academic and outreach programs that enable the center to initiate and promote broadly based study units of the Holocaust, bringing invaluable educational, intellectual, and ethical insights to UT Dallas students as well as to the larger community of the Dallas Metroplex.
“The Center facilitates a historical and moral awareness of what happened when the Third Reich shattered the world of Europe and created shock waves that still exert an impact on contemporary consciousness,” Roemer said.
The program is further enhanced by the generous support for faculty research through the Leah and Paul Lewis Chair in Holocaust Studies, the Hillel A. Feinberg Chair in Holocaust Studies, the Barbara and Stan Rabin Professorship in Holocaust Studies, and the Jacqueline and Michael Wald Professorship in Holocaust Studies.
To participate in the dinner, community members can visit www.utdallas.edu/ackermandinner or call 972-883-2100.