Getting to know your Jewish Book Festival Committee

By Gayle Dorio, JBF Chair

We all know it takes a village! Fortunately, members of the JBF committee are hardworking, dedicated, interesting people who pool their talents in order to bring authors and events to our community. When you work alongside amazing people, you get to know them a little … but there are some things that don’t get shared.

We thought you might enjoy learning some little-known details about a few members, so we asked them to tell us three things most people don’t know about them and to share their favorite book. Here are their answers:

Emily Berkowitz

• My two sisters and I are all named for authors or literary characters. Brontë, anyone?

• Years ago, my sister, Marjorie, and I resolved to visit all 50 states. After a hiatus for COVID-19, we are going to resume our travels. So far, we have visited 35 states.

• When I learned I was pregnant, I raced over to my local bookstore and bought a stack of classic children’s books. The top of the list was “Madeline” by Ludwig Bemelmans. Our son named our dog Genevieve, after Madeline’s dog.

Louise Forman

• I volunteer weekly at the Collier County Library Headquarters when I’m in Naples.

• I have two master’s degrees: one is in Library & Information Science and one is in Business Administration.

• I ran a marathon in 2012.

Steve Yussen

• As a child, at one point, I wanted to be a rabbi.

• My favorite ice cream flavor is cherry vanilla.

• I am a sucker for stories about time travel.

• My favorite book is “The Ghostwriter” by Philip Roth.

Iris Shur

• My husband and I owned the largest computer dating service in the early ’70s. We had seven locations. This was not internet dating; it was a time when computers took up an entire room.

• I was the feature editor of my college newspaper; I also wrote an advice to the lovelorn column.

• I taught prisoners how to apply for jobs when I was a member of Concord, MA prison outreach.

• My favorite book is “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding.

Patti Boochever

• I was my camp’s jacks champion.

• I hate mayonnaise.

• I quilt.

Marc Simon

• I was in a comedy group that was on the radio and on stage.

• My wife, Linda, heard me on the radio before she met me.

• In yoga, I can do a back end and the half lotus.

• My favorite book is “The Leap Year Boy” by Marc Simon.

Alice Richter

• I met my husband, Jerry, on July 7th, became engaged six days later, and was married four months later at Tavern on the Green in New York City.

• I was voted Teacher of the Year (out of 300 teachers).

• Recovering chocoholic? Guilty! I must have a piece of dark chocolate every day!

• My favorite book is “Life and Death in Shanghai” by Nien Chen.

Leslie Wasserman

• I moved from Long Island, New York to Michigan at age 16.

• I have been a therapist in the field of addiction for 30 years.

• I own and breed racehorses (trotters).

• My favorite book is “The House of Spirits” by Isabel Allende.

Linda Simon

• My TV career began at age 6, when I sat in the peanut gallery on the “Howdy Doody” show. It also ended then.

• I was a runner-up in an apple pie baking contest, but I should have won.

• My favorite book is “The Leap Year Boy” by Marc Simon.

Irene Pomerantz

• I love giving the reptile talk, including handling the snakes, at The Conservancy of Southwest Florida.

• I love birding and even broke an ankle looking at the red cockaded woodpecker.

• I dream of being a concert pianist, but I have no talent!

• One of my favorite books is “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Eugenides.

Spencer Forman

• I read very few books until I retired.

• We see a lot of Broadway plays when we summer in New Jersey.

• I am still certified by USA hockey to coach players.

Jeff Margolis

• I recently became a member of the International Society of Olympic Historians.

• I attended the same high school (in Philadelphia) as Larry Fine of the Three Stooges.

• Ida and I were invited to a party at Joe Biden’s home in Delaware when he was U.S. Senator.

• My favorite book of all time is “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.”

Susan Pittelman

• When I was a book publisher, one of my authors (and his book) was featured on Oprah.

• When working at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, I was the first person at the Center to use email. I taught everyone else how to use it.

• I was once featured as Cook of the Week in the Wisconsin State Journal! The article featured my Blue-Ribbon Chocolate Cheesecake and my Hamburger Cookies.

• Too many favorite books to list – and who knows, I might have a new favorite after the 2022-23 JBF!

Carole J Greene

• My first published work was a twice-a-month humor column, “Carole’s Corner,” in my hometown newspaper, which ran for 2+ years in the mid- 1970s. I was the “Erma Bombeck of Anderson, Indiana.”

• I spent the summer of 1958 in Naples and determined then to live here someday. Only one traffic light then, at 5th Avenue and U.S. 41. I finally made my dream come true when I moved here in January 1987.

• In the early 1990s, I was hired to write articles for Florida Golfer magazine. Publisher told me that since I had never played golf, I could not write about golf, so I could write all articles that weren’t about how to improve your game. I rebutted his argument by saying I believed a professional writer could write about anything — using research to fill in gaps in her personal experience. Within four months, he was publishing my articles about golf.

• My favorite book is “A Prayer for Owen Meany” by John Updike.