Harriet and George were both born in Europe. Harriet immigrated to the United States before the Holocaust, and George arrived afterward. Their families settled in New York City where Harriet and George met in high school. Upon Harriet’s graduation from Adelphi College and George’s from NYU, they were married. This year they are celebrating their 64th wedding anniversary.
Their first two years of marriage were spent in Virginia, where George served as First Lieutenant in the US Army Corp of Engineers. They then moved to New Jersey and George joined Johnson and Johnson, where he rose to Vice President of Manufacturing at Jelco Labs. Harriet became a CPA and worked in public accounting. In 1979, George and Harriet started their own company, The Med-Tech Group—later renamed Vention Medical—an international company that designs, develops, and manufactures medical products.
Harriet and George are parents to Howard, who is married to Sandra Moed, and Leslie, who is married to Josh Ostrin. They are blessed with eight grandchildren, five grandchildren-in-law, and eight great grandchildren.
“After our family, our greatest blessings have come from efforts to help others.”
Harriet and George have been long-standing leaders and supporters of RPRY. George served on the RPRY board and co-chaired the Financial Controls Strategic Committee, and Harriet volunteered in the Business Office for many years. Together, they are active members of the Dream It Capital and Innovation Campaign Committee, and co-chaired the RPRY Excellence and Innovation Campaign.
Community leadership is central to our Ner Tamid Honorees. Harriet is a past President of the Sisterhood at Temple Sholom and past President of the SSB Jewish Community Center in Bridgewater, NJ. She served on the executive committee of the National Board of the JCC Association. Harriet is the co-founder of the Women’s Philanthropy of the Jewish Federation of West Central, NJ and was the Treasurer of its Hebrew Free Loan Society.
George is past president of Temple Sholom in Bridgewater, NJ and Shaarei Tefilah in Somerville, NJ, as well as the Jewish Federation of West Central, NJ (JFWCNJ). He is a member of the National Council of AIPAC and of the national leadership of the Conference of Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organizations.
Harriet and George established the “Blank Fellows” Leadership Program of the JFWCNJ and they co-chaired a Scholarship Endowment campaign for the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy. They are advisers to the Steinsaltz Yeshiva in Tekoa, Israel. Since 2015, they have co-chaired a Scholarship Fund supporting students at Bronx Community College. In 2017, George became Chairman of Friends of Yemin Orde/ ImpactIsrael, and currently serves on their Executive Committee, while Harriet served on the Board of Directors.
“We feel very blessed to be living within the historical window of the re-establishment of the State of Israel, and to be able to support it. We have experienced the greatness of America which welcomed us and gave us many opportunities. That is why we are so blessed to be able to give back.”