At the annual meeting of the Jewish Community Center of Princeton Mercer Bucks, outgoing president Bob Weber, left, passes the torch of leadership to Don Leibowitz.
Photos by Marilyn Silverstein
July 22, 2008
At the threshold of realizing the dream of anchoring a regional Jewish community campus, the Jewish Community Center of Princeton Mercer Bucks has tapped a seasoned communal leader to lead the way forward.
Don Leibowitz of West Windsor, who served as president of the United Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks from 2005 to 2007, has been elected president of the JCC and head of its 30-member board of directors. He succeeds Bob Weber of Princeton Junction.
“It’s an exciting time to be doing this,” Leibowitz said during an interview prior to the organization’s 98th annual meeting on June 16 at Adath Israel Congregation in Lawrenceville. “This is as crucial a year as any in the JCC’s 98-year history. We’re coming up on the JCC’s 100th anniversary, which I expect we’re going to be able to celebrate on the new campus.
Leibowitz brings to that challenge a strong background in Jewish communal service. A longtime member of the federation’s executive committee, he also serves on the boards of the Jewish Community Foundation of Princeton Mercer Bucks and the Central New Jersey Chapter of American Jewish Committee, as well as on the regional and national boards of the Union for Reform Judaism. He is a past president of Congregation Beth Chaim in Princeton Junction and past chair of the congregation’s $2 million capital campaign.
Two years after closing its aging facility in Ewing Township, the JCC is still an organization in transition, according to Leibowitz.
“We’re going to have to reestablish our membership,” he said. “We’re going to have to reestablish our membership dues structure. We’re going to have to develop the programming the community wants. And we’re going to have to work on policies for the operation of the campus building.”
That place will be grounded on an 80-acre site bordering Clarksville-Grovers Mills Road in West Windsor Township, where the community plans to establish its new Jewish Community Campus of Princeton Mercer Bucks. Anchored by a 75,000-square-foot, multi-use facility that will be the region’s central Jewish address, the campus will be home to the JCC, its Early Childhood Learning Center, and its Abrams Day Camp and Teen Travel Camp, as well as other core Jewish agencies in the region — the federation, the Jewish Community Foundation, and the Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Mercer County. Community leaders also hope that Greenwood House for the Jewish elderly will have a presence on the campus.
“I hope the ground breaking for the campus will be able to take place in the fall,” Leibowitz said. “The JCC is the centerpiece of the campus, and hopefully, finally, it will begin to take shape.
“We have approximately $20 million, so let’s get going,” he said. “I’m very optimistic we’ll be able to move forward soon on the campus, and the entire community will be behind it.
Bob Frey has 20 years of heartfelt memories of the JCC’s Carousel Club.
Drew Staffenberg, executive director of the campus and volunteer interim director of the JCC, said that the JCC board “is committed to helping build the new center, and we’re all waiting for the approvals and for federation to put a shovel in the ground.
“We’re hoping that by two years from now — 2010, the 100th anniversary of the JCC — we’ll be in the new building,” Staffenberg told New Jersey Jewish News before the annual meeting.
Close to 50 people gathered at Adath Israel for the annual meeting, including several participants in the JCC’s Carousel Club for developmentally disabled adults. In addition to the election of the JCC’s new board and officers, the evening’s agenda included the presentation of a plaque to Bob Frey, former longtime JCC executive director, for his leadership in shepherding the Carousel program for 20 years.
“The group is such a wonderful group,” Frye said. “The club, the staff, the parents — they’re in my heart forever.”
New JCC officers, in addition to Leibowitz, are Jerri Blitzer, Brian Chevlin, Mort Cohen, Emily Josephson, and Rabbi Vicki Tuckman, vice presidents; Carol Pollard, secretary; Howard Cohen, treasurer; and Bob Weber, past president.
“We must raise awareness throughout the community of the value of a thriving JCC,” Leibowitz told the gathering. “Let’s apply the spirit of teamwork to the many challenges we face. A vibrant JCC will strengthen our commitment to Jewish communal life.”
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