Susan and Arnold Baskies moved to Cherry Hill from Needham, MA in 1982, when they joined TBS and discovered what a great fit it was for their family. They  have been active community volunteers in the southern New Jersey region for  40 years. Temple Beth Sholom has served as their home away from home. Their children received their Hebrew education at TBS and held USY leadership positions as Vice President and President in the local and regional chapters.

 

Their oldest son, Michael, is an orthopedic surgeon and hand surgery specialist and his wife, Risa, is an architect. Doug is a Senior Vice President of Finance at NFI, and his wife, Miriam, is a school administrator and teacher. Pammy is Director of Finance at Frito Lay, a division of PEPSICO, and, her husband, Scott is a partner at a Chicago law firm. Susan and Arnie have 7 grandchildren and one in heaven. Pammy and Scott began the non-profit foundation, Dancing While Cancering, in memory of their daughter Maddie, which has already improved the in-hospital experience of 1,500 children receiving cancer treatment in 26 pediatric hospitals in the United States, including CHOP.

 

Spanning a period of 40 years, some of Susan’s committee and leadership roles include President of TBS, Vice President of Programming, Rabbi Search Committee, Sisterhood President and Treasurer, Chairperson of TBS School Board, Chairperson of the TBS Speakers Forum which included Prime Ministers Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak, Evenings with Governor McGreevey and Senator Menendez, Rabbi Lewis’s Tribute Dinner, Chair of Breakfast with the Rabbi, member of the Five Year Long Range Planning Committee, Cook For A Friend, and many other committees and chairmanships throughout the years. Susan has received the Sisterhood’s Harriette Sengin Award and the  David J. Levy Award. In addition, she is active in the Federation Arts & Book Festival, and both Susan & Arnie are supporters of AIPAC. One of their greatest pleasures was underwriting the publication of the TBS Family Haggadah, Haggadat Sholom. Susan & Arnie were involved in TBS’s move and Torah March from Haddon Heights to Cherry Hill. In 1990, they liberated 3 Holocaust Torahs from Ukraine, one of which resides at TBS.

 

Professionally, Susan was a speech pathologist for the Cherry Hill School System, working with the township’s pre-school challenged population for 25 years. She took pride in positively affecting the lives of hundreds of children and their families.

 

Arnie is a surgical oncologist who trained at the National Cancer Institute. In addition to his teaching responsibilities at one of the medical schools, he is also on the staff of the Cherry Hill Free Clinic, caring for recent immigrants, the medically indigent and  uninsured populations. He achieved national recognition for his research in immunology and is a medical correspondent at NBC News. He has been active with the American Cancer Society for 44 years, and recently served as the Chairman of the National Board of Directors of the American Cancer Society. Between 2000 and 2016, he was Chair of the NJ Governor’s Task Force on Cancer Prevention, Early Detection and Treatment. He was recently appointed to the Global Breast Cancer Initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO). He is currently a director at ANIXA, a Silicon Valley biotech company specializing in developing cancer vaccines and COVID therapeutics, creating the first ever FDA approved vaccine against breast cancer. He also currently serves on the International Board of Directors of the Israel Cancer Research Fund, and is a member of the Admissions Committee at Ben Gurion University Medical School for International Health in Beer Shevah, Israel.

 

Susan & Arnie and their family thoroughly enjoy travel, which included 2 trips to Israel with Rabbi Lindemann, a family trip to Israel with Rabbi Peltz and a synagogue trip to Cuba. They especially love spending time  with family and friends on Long Beach Island, and rooting for the Red Sox, Flyers, and Phillies. TBS has been central to  their Jewish identity; TBS has given their whole family a solid foundation in Jewish traditions and the principles of conservative Judaism.