BGU&U | SPRING 2022

USA A4BGU Wonders Who are the Marcuses? More than 50 A4BGU board members participated in the two-day virtual board meeting in October. The meeting featured a talk with the director and producer of Who Are the Marcuses? , the new documentary about late BGU supporters Howard and Lottie Marcus. The meeting also featured Dr. Becka Alper of the Pew Research Center. USA A New Tri-State Chapter Begins BGU alumna Maria Blekher was introduced in October as the founding chair of A4BGU’s new Tri-State Chapter in New York. USA Paying Tribute to BGU’s Delaware Valley Partners In November, A4BGU’s Philadelphia and Delaware chapters turned out for an in-person “Beacon of Light in the Negev” tribute brunch honoring Dr. Carolyn Glazer- Hockstein, Dr. Neil Hockstein, Dr. Marcia Halpern, and Jay Leistner. The event, which was also streamed live, featured Seth M. Siegel, author of the award-winning Let There Be Water: Israel’s Solution for a Water-Starved World , and special guests A4BGU President Gary DeBode and CEO Doug Seserman.

Co-founder of French Friends of BGU Danièle Bidermann (left) and current FFBGU President Marie Hélène Bérard. Photo: Dana Liram-Klibanov

FALL

FRANCE French Friends Bid Farewell to Former President French Friends of Ben-Gurion University held an event in memory of its former president, the late Gérard Worms, on the balcony of Publicis on the Champs-Élysées in September. A parallel event was held at the French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands in Sde Boker, where a tribute plaque in Worms’ memory was unveiled at the Institute’s main entrance hall.

USA The Bay Area Appoints a New Chair A virtual event was held in honor of A4BGU board member Marci Dollinger, newly appointed chair of the Bay Area chapter, in September.

Unveiling of the plaque honoring Gérard Worms, z”l at Sde Boker

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