Irving Ozer to receive Zionist service award

The honoree was active in the Jewish Federation of Youngstown.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Irving E. Ozer of Youngstown is the 2005 recipient of the Justice Louis D. Brandeis Award and the K'Far Silver Scholarship Plaque, the Zionist Organization of America, Youngstown Zionist District, has announced.
He will be honored during a community Shabbat service at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Temple El Emeth, 3970 Logan Way, Liberty, for his lifetime devotion to Israel, Zionism and community service.
Ozer was born in 1919 on Wick Oval on Youngstown's North Side, the last of six children of Louis and Anna Altshuler Ozersky. He graduated from The Rayen School in 1937 and received his religious education at Youngstown Hebrew Institute and Temple Emanuel.
He attended what is now Youngstown State University and as a freshman was chairman of an ad hoc committee of students that convinced trustees to change the policy and institute a program of intercollegiate football in 1938. He recruited and organized a 60-piece marching band for the football season.
Ozer transferred to Ohio State University and played in the OSU marching band. He graduated in 1941 with a bachelor's degree in business administration. Ozer also has a master's degree in social work from the University of Pittsburgh.
Ozer then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where he taught aircraft maintenance and earned a commission as a statistical control officer at Harvard Graduate School of Business. He served three years in the Pacific, at Wright Patterson Air Force Base and the San Bernadino Air Depot.
Career
After his military service, Ozer returned to Youngstown and worked for the Albro Packing Co. In 1953, he helped move the main office to the factory in Springboro, Pa., and moved to Meadville, Pa. There he helped found the Meadville Jewish Community Center Congregation and served on the building committee and board of directors. He was the second president of the new congregation and served on the religious and education committees.
Returning to Youngstown in 1965, he worked with Simco Enterprises, then joined the staff of the Jewish Federation of Youngstown. At the Jewish Community Center, he served as director of youth activities, adult activities and the day camp and became center director in 1969.
In 1975, Ozer was appointed associate director of the Jewish federation and handled its campaign, Jewish Community Relations Council, Women's Division and federation properties. He was involved in the capital expansion and improvement program, the Holocaust memorial and the Commission for Jewish Education.
After his retirement in 1984, Ozer continued his community service by helping to organize the Youngstown Jewish Archives and began the compilation of the definitive history of the Jews in the Youngstown area.
He has been a regular volunteer in conducting Shabbat, festival, Seder and High Holiday services at Heritage Manor. He was a board member and first vice president of Temple Emanuel, a board member of Temple El Emeth, B'Nai Brith, a founder and president of Masada and secretary of Youngstown Israel Investment Club.
Family
In 1945, he married Beatrice Orgel and they had two children, Richard Ozer and Lorrie Mainzer, and three grandsons. Mrs. Ozer died in 1998, and Ozer then married Deborah Schwartz Lustig.
Donations in honor of Ozer may be sent to the Youngstown Zionist District, P.O. Box 2284, Youngstown, OH 44504. Contributions will be used to support the K'far Silver Agricultural High School in Ashkelon, Israel, which trains Israeli children for agricultural and technical industries.
The Oct. 21 service is open to all. For more information call Atty. Mark Belinky at (330) 744-3523 or Rick Marlin at (330) 759-0884.