Michael Gilligan: A Legacy of Community, Arts, and Achievement
This article explores the diverse achievements and contributions of JCC alumni, highlighting individuals who have made significant impacts in their respective fields. From law and medicine to the arts and community service, these alumni embody a spirit of dedication and excellence.
Champions of Equal Opportunity and Justice
Dr. Cynthia, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts degree in urban studies, has dedicated her career to promoting equal opportunity. Her academic journey includes a Master’s degree in administration from Antioch University and a Ph.D. in public administration from the George Washington University.
Since 1965, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has been the leading federal law enforcement agency dedicated to preventing and remedying employment discrimination and advancing equal opportunity for all in the workplace. Prior to joining the federal government, Cynthia worked for six years in international development for a nonprofit, travelling extensively in West Africa, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia.
Evora A. Thomas, admitted to practice law in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, exemplifies a commitment to justice. A graduate of Georgetown University Law Center (JD ’77) and Princeton University (BA’74), she dedicated over 40 years to promoting and supporting legal aid in civil cases for those unable to afford a lawyer. In 2022, she retired from the Legal Services Corporation (LSC) in Washington, D.C. Throughout her adult life, Evora has been actively engaged in ministry and currently serves at the First Baptist Church of Glenarden in Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
Leaders in Community Service and Philanthropy
Several JCC alumni have demonstrated exceptional dedication to community service and philanthropy. One notable figure is Ben, who was especially dedicated to the Metrowest Jewish Community. Early on, he received the Julius and Bessie Cohen Award, recognizing young UJA leaders and their potential. He went on to become President of the Jewish Vocational Service (JVS) and remained an active Board member for decades.
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Pioneers in Medicine and Cardiovascular Advancement
Dr. Victor Parsonnet, an accomplished surgeon and researcher, has dedicated his life to the advancement of cardiovascular medicine and surgery. Among his many scientific contributions was the implantation of the first permanent transvenous pacemaker, a procedure now used in almost every pacemaker implantation throughout the world. He is past Director of Surgery, a position he held for 34 years, and he founded the hospital’s Pacemaker Center in 1966 and remains its Director.
Dr. Parsonnet has earned numerous awards and honors, and has served in various capacities, from founding member, trustee, to president, in many professional organizations and societies. He has been a member of 13 editorial boards of cardiovascular journals, and holds five patents. Dr. Parsonnet attended Cornell University and the New York University College of Medicine where he received his medical degree. He completed his internship in surgery at Boston Beth Israel Hospital, and residencies in Pathology at Bellevue Hospital and Grasslands Hospital, and in surgery at the Newark Beth Israel Medical Center. He completed fellowship training in vascular surgery at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York and in cardiovascular surgery with Drs. Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley at Baylor University College of Medicine in Houston. Through his avocational interest in music he became Board Chairman of the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, a position he has held since 1991. Dr. Parsonnet lives in Oldwick, N.J. with his wife, Jane. His first wife, Dr. Mia Parsonnet, also a physician, died in 2002. They have three children; one of whom, Julie, is Associate Professors of Medicine and Dean of Education at Stanford Medical School, Jeff is Associate Professor of Medicine at Dartmouth Medical School, and Brian is an engineer in business in Fort Collins, CO. Dr.
Influential Figures in Education
Hilda Lutzke, born and raised in Newark, fulfilled her dream of becoming a high school English teacher. She received a BA from Montclair Teachers College (now Montclair State University) and later received an MA in Education from NYU. She knew her students were bright and her goal was to help them express themselves well. She focused on grammar, sentence structure, and expanding their vocabulary. day I retired,” Ms. Lutzke commented. But beyond the academics, Hilda always had an interest in her students’ well being and their futures. She was happy to help them with their decisions regarding college or other plans for after graduation. During her career, Ms. Lutzke was a founding member of the Newark Teachers Union. Her late husband, Maurice, was Vice Principal and then Principal of Hawthorne Avenue School.
Dr. Robert Lowenstein dedicated many years to education, teaching at Weequahic High School during its early years before World War II, in the post-war era after serving overseas, and in the post-riots era after fighting his own battle against McCarthy-era political persecution. Thirty-one years after retiring as chairman of Weequahic’s foreign language department, Dr. Robert Lowenstein turned 101 in July 2008. The centenarian also maintained a 60-year relationship with one of Weequahic’s most famous alumni, Philip Roth, whom he met when the future author was in his freshman homeroom. Lowenstein was a model for a character in one of Roth’s novels, “I Married a Communist.”
Dr. Lowenstein’s works have been published in a variety of poetry magazines. His daughter Martha recalled that when she and her siblings were young, their father also wrote a couple of plays and stories for children. Robert Lowenstein was born July 13, 1907, the fifth of six children, including two others who reached the century mark. He rattled off the names of his siblings: Ida, Eleanor, Aaron, Evelyn and Regina (Jean). Eleanor lived to 102; Evelyn to 100. He graduated from South Side High School and received a degree in English from Rutgers in 1928. He earned a master’s degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania, then spent a year in France, where he taught in a boys’ secondary school where they trained to be elementary school teachers. Back in America, he went to Johns Hopkins University, where he earned a Ph.D. Dr. Lowenstein’s first teaching job was in Trenton at Central High School where he taught French and Italian. During his first stint at Weequahic, he married the former Zelda Lewis on July 11, 1941.
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Despite being a decorated World War II vet, Dr. Lowenstein ran afoul of the political persecution that took place during the Cold War. One of three Newark teachers fired in 1955, he fought it out in the courts. He was represented by distinguished Newark Judge John Bigelow and attorney Morton Stavis, who subsequently was one of the founders of the Center for Constitutional Rights. “When the case was finally decided in my favor, the opinion was written by a judge who had been a classmate of mine at Rutgers,” Dr. Lowenstein recalled. “Everything worked out fine.” Daughter Martha learned when she went to college that her father’s fame preceded her. “I didn’t realize that you were somewhat of a cause celebre,” she said. Reinstated with back pay in 1961, he went to Barringer as language department chairman. “I was very happy at Barringer teaching Italian,” he said. But his final transfer was to Weequahic in 1967, when there were no longer any young Lowensteins in the school. Although he gave up mowing his lawn and shoveling snow a couple of years ago, Dr. Lowenstein still stays active by taking several walks a day. Dr. Lowenstein continues to write poetry and takes great pleasure in rereading his favorite writers, Montaigne and Dante. At the age of 101, family, friends, the natural world, reading and writing remain central to him.
Literary Voices and Cultural Commentators
Benilde Little, a former Essence magazine staffer, has emerged as a successful African American female author. Her novels often feature smart, attractive, overachieving protagonists who grapple with self-doubt, class barriers, and heartache. Little is the best-selling author of Good Hair. The novel fictionalized the class issues Little had encountered both at Howard and in the world of professional, urban African Americans. become straight. The main character of the novel, Alice Andrews, is an African American woman from Newark who earns a scholarship to a prestigious women's college in New England. Selected as one of the ten best books of 1996 by The Los Angeles Times, Good Hair spent six months at number one on the Blackboard Bestseller list. Little was nominated for an NAACP Image Award for her work and was awarded Best New Author by the Go On Girl Book Club, a nationwide reading group.
Little’s follow-up novel, The Itch, was published in 1998. Set among the world that W.E.B. Benilde’s critically acclaimed third novel, Acting Out, asked the question of how someone maintains their course when their world is turned upside down unexpectedly. Her latest novel, Who Does She Think She Is? Little was formerly a senior editor at Essence and a contributing editor at Heart and Soul. She has been a reporter for People, The Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Star-Ledger and has written for In-Style, Allure and other publications.
Little was born in 1958 and grew up in a modest, integrated neighborhood in Newark. Her mother had dropped out of high school, became a nurse's aide, and then served as president of the Parent-Teacher Association at her daughter's school. Little's father worked at General Motors as a materials coordinator and was active in community and civic organizations as well. The 1967 riots in Newark irrevocably changed Little's neighborhood. Many of the white families moved away, as did some of the established African American households. Newcomers to the neighborhood, many of them from a riot-torn area of Newark known as the Central Ward, viewed middle-class families like the Littles with suspicion. Little, an overachieving student, was often ridiculed by her fellow African American classmates. "I was the rich kid," Little recalled in an interview with Pamela Newkirk in the Washington Post. At Howard University, she met many wealthy students who had several generations of Howard alumni in their family. For the first time in her life, she was asked what her grandfather had done for a living. Little became acutely aware that there was a type of caste system among African Americans. Because she had her own apartment and car, she was considered part of the elite.
Artistic Expression and Cultural Impact
Darryl Rochester is a testament to the power of artistic expression and its impact on culture. Darryl Rochester graduated from Weequahic High School in 1971 after having grown up on Johnson Avenue among a close-knit extended family and large circle of lifelong friends. Building on his foundation as a student in Kay Payne’s Dance Studio, Darryl’s love for the arts bloomed into his first career when he auditioned and was accepted in the famed Alvin Ailey Dance troupe. Darryl continued to embrace his artistic side by enrolling in the Wilfred Academy of Hair and Beauty Culture and Christine Valmy Beauty School in New York, receiving certifications from them both. With these certifications and the influences of his late mother Mabel and her dear friends, including Emily Miles "the grand dame of black style in Newark”, Darryl began taking the tri-state area fashion scene by storm. He was tapped by the legendary Al Murphy (who was obsessed with Emily Miles) to choreograph funky dance-theater pieces for Murphy’s highly extravagant fashion shows. Darryl and his dear friends, fashion designer Jaime McDonald and model Tommy Garrett, participated in these epic shows, as did such legends as Iman, Pat Cleveland, and Beverly Johnson, the first Black woman to grace the cover of Vogue Magazine.
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Around this time, Darryl opened his first salon in his family home on Keer Avenue. There, Darryl styled many of New Jersey’s hottest models and celebrities including Beverly Johnson, Pat Cleveland and one of his best friends, the groundbreaking Tracy “Africa'' Norman. Darryl was central to the theatrical environment of this era. Most notable was his association with the Club Le Jock, located on Halsey Street in Newark, an LGBTQ space that spawned the theatrical environment for the expression of free Black subjectivity and a precursor for similar cultural spaces throughout the tri-state area. Darryl's contributions to the LGBTQ community and cultural scene have been recorded in the Rutgers University Queer Newark annals. Although Darryl did not have children of his own, he took great delight in being everyone’s Uncle Darryl; his many friends and clients were like his family. As a rite of passage, Uncle Darryl enjoyed taking his nieces clubbing to New York and New Jersey hot spots…after their hair and makeup were sufficiently snatched enough to make him proud. Darryl enjoyed traveling to places as far as Amsterdam; however, nothing could compare to his love for Martha’s Vineyard, where he traveled annually with his sister, Sandra and dear friend from Weequahic, Yvonne.
A Legacy in Sports and Community Engagement
Al Attles, a 71-year-old, has built a unique relationship based on commitment, loyalty and dedication with the Warriors. He has personal, first-hand accounts of Wilt Chamberlain’s intimidating presence, Nate Thurmond’s defensive prowess, Rick Barry’s offensive explosions, the exciting days of "Run-TMC" and the high-flying antics of two-time NBA Slam Dunk Champion Jason Richardson. The 71-year-old Attles joined the Warriors in 1960 (a 5th-round draft choice) and has since been affiliated with the club in one capacity or another, building a unique relationship based on commitment, loyalty and dedication. He has spent the last 21 years as assistant general manager with the Warriors, assisting the front office in a variety of ways, ranging from player personnel input to numerous speaking engagements.
In the latter stages of the 1969-70 NBA campaign, Attles was named head coach of the Warriors, replacing George Lee after 52 games (spent the final two years of his playing career in 1969-70 and 1970-71 as a player/coach). During his 13-year coaching run, Attles guided the Warriors to six playoff berths, two division titles and an overall 557-518 record, which ranks 18th on the NBA’s all-time coaches' winning list. Additionally, Golden State posted an all-time franchise record 11 consecutive wins during the 1971-72 campaign, Attles second full season at the helm. He also was named head coach of the Western Conference All-Star Team in both 1975 and 1976 and guided the Warriors to eight consecutive winning seasons during his first eight full seasons as head coach.
Attles originally joined the Warriors as a player when the franchise was located in Philadelphia, where he spent his rookie season with the team (1960-61) and one additional campaign before the team moved to San Francisco in 1962. One of the most aggressive and hard-nosed players in the league, Attles earned the unique nickname of “The Destroyer,” which appropriately described his mentality on the floor. Furthermore, he was involved in one of the most memorable games in NBA history on March 2, 1962, when he and Wilt Chamberlain combined for 117 points against the New York Knicks, the most…
Burton Schildhouse: A Life of Business, Politics, and Community
The life of Burton Schildhouse is a rich tapestry woven with threads of business, politics, and community involvement, offering a fascinating glimpse into the experiences of a man who witnessed and participated in significant historical events.
Early Life and Family
Burton was born at 981 E. street in Cleveland before East Cleveland. He had two older sisters, Frances and Evelyn. His father came to America in 1913, and his mother arrived around the same time. Both families were from the same community and knew each other. Burton's maternal grandmother never spoke English and communicated in Yiddish. His father served as her interpreter during family visits every Sunday.
The Impact of the Great Depression
Burton's family experienced the hardships of the Great Depression. His mother started working when the Home Owners Loan Corporation sold their home. His father operated a stamp shop. Although not very successful, it was a means of living. Later, he kept the sign company going and would travel to shows around Ohio to deal with collectors.
Education and Early Work Experiences
Burton attended school in Cleveland and later pursued higher education. He admits he wasn't much of a student initially but was influenced by the war to head in a specific direction. He dabbled a little bit in entertainment, singing and dancing in school. He also took a lot of writing courses in college.
His early work experiences included delivering for his brother-in-law and working at his dad’s stamp shop. After returning from service, he worked on a political campaign.
Political Involvement
Burton's foray into politics began with working on a congressional campaign. He later became the Assistant Director of a department in Ohio, where he organized communications and wrote speeches. He also gained marketing and management experience, helping figures like Woody Hayes. He was involved in John Glenn's campaign and worked in Howard Metzenbaum's campaign as well.
Career in Advertising and Communications
Burton's career path led him to the advertising industry. He encountered challenges, such as being told that some agencies "don't hire Jews." However, he persevered and moved around quickly in the industry. He became a "rainmaker" instead of just a copywriter. He worked on the Michael V. Di Salle campaign for governor in 1959.
Community Involvement and Later Career
Burton's skills as a communicator led him to advise organizations like Planned Parenthood on changing laws in Ohio. He started with the Columbus Chamber of Commerce in 1985. He also worked with Bank One, advising them on community programs.
Reflections on Retirement and Education
Burton reflects on his retirement, expressing uncertainty about whether he handled it well. He acknowledges that his real interests lay in other areas. He describes himself as not being a great student, although he had the potential. He recalls being part of a "Major Work" program in elementary school, designed for the brightest kids.
Personal Interests and Memories
Burton shares various personal memories, including walking to the lake at a young age, navigating the Cleveland transportation system, and receiving a weekly pass from his brother-in-law. He also recalls celebrations and holidays with family, attending Park Synagogue, and his Bar Mitzvah.
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