Couple to receive Brandeis award

The Shermans have been active in Jewish youth programs.

SPECIAL TO THE VINDICATOR

YOUNGSTOWN — Carol and Bruce Sherman will be honored by the Zionist Organization of America, Youngstown Zionist District, as the 2008 recipients of the coveted Justice Louis D. Brandeis Award and the K’far Silver Scholarship Plaque.

The Shermans will be honored at a community event at 7 p.m. next Sunday at Rodef Sholom Congregation, 1119 Elm St., for their dedication to Israel, Zionism and community service. The public is invited.

The Shermans have worked to educate and promote Jewish heritage to others throughout our community.

Carol Sherman first visited Israel in 1982 as part of an education mission to research early childhood education and day care. In 1984, the Shermans participated in a B’nai B’rith Youth Organization Adviser’s Mission to Israel, and the following year they led a Youngstown Area Jewish Federation Young Leadership Israel Mission.

Bruce Sherman visited the Jews of the Soviet Union in 1998 and led another mission to Israel in 2002. This past year, the Shermans were the group leaders of the Jewish Federation’s Eastern Europe Mission that included sites of Jewish historical interest in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

Bruce Sherman is the son of Mannie and Ethel Sherman. He was reared in Boardman and graduated from Youngstown State University in 1970 with his bachelor’s degree in business administration and earned his CPA license in 1972.

Carol Sherman is the daughter of Ben and Minerva Nudel. She grew up on Youngstown’s North Side and graduated from YSU in 1970 with a bachelor’s degree in education. She was awarded the Beeghly College of Education Volunteer Service Award in 2007.

The Shermans are life members of the YSU Alumni Society, and Bruce served as president from 2005 to 2007. They have been active supporters of Ohio Business Week on the YSU campus.

Bruce was honored with the Williamson College of Business Administration Volunteer Service Award in 2002. As teenagers, the couple were active in the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization, and as adults, they went on to serve as chapter advisers. Bruce was honored with the 1995 B’nai B’rith Guardian of the Menorah Award.

The Shermans are graduates of Leadership Mahoning Valley. In 2004, they received the Ohio Association of Community Leadership Outstanding Community Leadership Award.

Bruce has been active in the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation and has had many chairmanships and elected offices including president.

He also has served on these community organizations: Junior Achievement, Interfaith Home Maintenance and Market Street Business Alliance. He is a trustee for the Frances & Lillian Schermer Charitable Trusts and The J. Ford Crandall Foundation.

Carol is a member of the Youngstown Rotary Club and has been chairman of their Put Kids First Program. She created Youngstown Rotary’s mentoring program with Harding Elementary School in 2001 and directed the program for five years.

She is a Paul Harris Fellow and serves on the Rotary board of directors. She previously served on the board of directors of the YWCA of Youngstown and chaired its Young Women With Bright Futures Program for three years. She was honored with the YWCA Board Member of the Year Award in 2001. She also was a 2002 Athena nominee of the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber. Carol is currently a committee member of the Boardman Township Zoning Department Board of Appeals and is mentor to The Young Philanthropist Board of the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley.

The Shermans are members of Rodef Sholom Congregation, where Bruce has served on the board of directors and Carol taught Sunday school, was religious school principal and currently serves as ritual chairwoman. They have two daughters. Bryna lives in Cincinnati with her husband, Greg, and two children, Matthew and Samantha. Rachel lives in Florida with her husband, Eric, and two children, Sarah and Jacob.

Donations in honor of the Shermans can be sent to the Youngstown Zionist District, P.O. Box 2284, Youngstown 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. Some 100 educators and staff administer to an annual student body of more than 800 teenagers, many of them immigrants of Russian, Ethiopian and Asian backgrounds.

For more information, contact Miriam Rabinowitz at (330) 759-2839 or Suzyn Schwebel-Epstein at (330) 759-7948.