IN THIS ISSUE: Message from the president and founder, Murry Sidlin A tribute to Hana and Edgar Krasa The 2015 Rafael Schächter Institute for Arts and Humanities Welcome to new board members

Welcome to new board members

The Defiant Requiem Foundation was pleased to welcome four new Board Members at its June meeting.

Nina Glasner, Chevy Chase, MD.  Nina was born in Israel, raised in New York, and later moved to the Washington area.  Retired after 40 years as a teacher of the visually impaired, she maintains a private social work practice specializing in elderly and visually impaired clients. The Holocaust was a defining part of Nina’s family.  Her father’s family escaped from Berlin during WWII, and her mother was sent out of Czechoslovakia to Palestine. Most of her mother’s relatives were interred in Terezín and murdered in Auschwitz.  Nina became involved with The Defiant Requiem Foundation after hearing the Defiant Requiem performance at the Kennedy Center in 2010.  Nina and her husband, Sol, have been generous supporters of the Schächter Institute Fellows Program, providing funding for teachers to travel to Prague and Terezín.

Sharon Griffin, New York, New York.  A former violist and teacher, Sharon Griffin is in her eighth year as the Director of Development at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.   Previous jobs in the performing arts include the Grand Teton, Aspen and Cascade Summer Festivals; the New York Chamber Symphony, the New York Philharmonic, and the Mannes Conservatory.  Sharon served on The Defiant Requiem Foundation Board for several terms, took a recent break, and gladly rejoined the Board in June.

Shelley Holt, Washington, DC.  Shelley and her husband, Allan, have supported The Defiant Requiem Foundation generously for several years, providing the funding necessary to complete the documentary film in 2012.   Shelley serves on the Board of Directors of the Barker Foundation, a non-profit Washington, DC-area adoption agency, and supports the Maya Angelou School, a public charter school for at-risk children, helping students with their reading and comprehension skills. Additionally, through their family foundation, she and Allan have endowed the Holt Scholars Program at the National Air & Space Museum to support STEM education outreach in underserved schools.  Shelley supports DC Greens, a non-profit that provides education and school garden programs to engage children and low-income families in sustainable nutrition. She is also involved with Island Grown Initiative, a sustainable agriculture organization providing local food advocacy and farm education through a farm-to-school program on Martha’s Vineyard, MA.  Committed to women’s healthcare and their access to treatment, Ms. Holt has financially supported the purchase of 3-D mammography units at both Mercy Hospital in Baltimore, MD and Martha’s Vineyard Hospital.   Shelley has been an active contributor of both time and financial resources to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, most notably to the Museum’s Center for the Prevention of Genocide.

Patti Kenner, New York, New York.  Patti runs Campus Coaches, a family business started by her father over 70 years ago.  She is active in many social and political causes and serves on the board of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, Educational Alliance, American Heart Association, Carnegie Mellon University, Guild Hall, and the University Musical Society at University of Michigan.  She co-chaired theDefiant Requiem concerts at Lincoln Center in 2013 and 2015 and was instrumental in helping raise over $4.0 million for Holocaust survivors in collaboration with UJA-Federation of NY.