EXTRAordinary PEOPLE

Bea Lurie is the daughter of two child Holocaust survivors, her father, Sol, and her mother, Evelyn Rebecca Lurie, whose parents escaped from Poland with two toddlers. Bea learned by her parents’ actions the importance of helping those in need and devoted her career to making a difference in the lives of others as a leader of nonprofit organizations and government agencies, and as an owner of two businesses. Bea also is an active volunteer in her community and at her local synagogue. LIFE MUST GO On is the remarkable story of Sol Lurie, a child survivor of six concentration camps during the Holocaust, who continues to be a beacon of hope. After a bucolic childhood in Kovno, Lithuania, Sol was just eleven when the Nazis invaded and he and his family were forced to move into the Kovno Ghetto. The Kovno Ghetto was one of the only ghettos to later become a concentration camp, and Sol was among just a few Jewish survivors from Kovno. In this inspiring story of tenacity, character, faith, love, and forgiveness, we follow young Sol through heartbreak and fear, torment, and torture. Through Sol's eyes, we learn the history of the communities in Eastern Europe, especially Lithuania, which has in the wider history of the Holocaust. Along the way, we meet the righteous few who helped save young Sol's life. After being imprisoned in six other concentration camps for a total of four years, Sol was liberated from Buchenwald on his 15th birthday. To this day, he still joyfully celebrates every year the day he was born and liberated. Miraculously, Sol’s three brothers and his father also survived the Holocaust. Her inspiring story was written with Dr. Steven Leonard Jacobs, also a child of survivors and genocide scholar.

Jonathan Hunger is the author of Agitate!, a revealing memoir of how he was able to overcome his fears by the example of Frederick Douglass. Jonathan is a native New Yorker who grew up primarily in New Jersey. He attended the University of Maryland for his undergraduate degree, and soon after spent a year working on construction as part of AmeriCorps with Habitat for Humanity. Following his term of service, he attended The College of New Jersey where he received his Master of Arts in Education, and spent the next ten years working in public schools in New Jersey and Maryland. After realizing that teaching was ultimately not the right fit for him, he returned to graduate school to pursue a career in international relations. Surprisingly, however, instead of finding work in international affairs, Jonathan ended up in a park ranger trainee position with the Department of the Interior at the Frederick Douglass Historic Site in Washington, DC. and it was this experience that inspired him to write his first book. Jonathan lives in the Baltimore suburbs with his family. 

Renee Weingarten is the creator and founder of Renee’s Reading Club, featured on Facebook, since 2017.  Today, the club has over 62,000 members with members in every state in the United States and in over thirty countries around the world.  Renee’s Reading Club is a site for sharing book recommendations, monthly “new book” release announcements and the popular live weekly author “Facebook Live” events throughout the year. Many well-known authors are members of the club who participate in these events.  Renee, an avid reader, has been a librarian for over forty years and lives in Atlantic Beach with her husband of 43 years and their Goldendoodle, Sophie.  They are the proud parents of two and grandparents of three young children.

MARIO FRONZONI was born on Valentine’s Day in Elizabeth, New Jersey. A resident of East Brunswick, New Jersey for 43 years, Mario is married, the father of two, and grandfather of three grandchildren. After retiring from a career as a professional engineer in Mechanical Engineering and Management, and after securing five US patents, and, as lead engineer on the latest aircraft carrier (CVN 78) steam condensers for the US Navy, Mario began to pursue his passion for sports in earnest. In particular, he has become a leader in promoting the current national craze for pickleball. Mario reveals his knowledge of this popular sport and thoughts on why so many people, young and old, are obsessed with this form of exercise and recreation.

MILT HEUMANN received a BA from Brooklyn College in 1968, and a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1976. He taught as an assistant and associate professor at the University of Michigan from 1973 to 1980, was a Guggenheim Fellow at Yale Law School from 1980 to 1981, and has been a professor (1981), and then Distinguished Professor (2013) at Rutgers until the present. He was Chair of the Department of Political Science at Rutgers from 19997 to 2003. During the 1980’s and 1990’s he was also an occasional Visiting Lecturer (for courses on criminal sentencing) at Yale Law School. Professor Heumann has written extensively in the field of criminal justice, and more recently also in the “right to privacy.”Supreme Court Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson cited Prof. Heumann’s research extensively in her undergraduate honors thesis at Harvard College, another indicator of his lasting impact on undergraduate students.

Sarah Esposito, PA-C, is a certified Physician Associate at Integrated Dermatology of NJ, located in East Brunswick, New Jersey. Sarah received her Bachelor's degree in biological sciences from the University of Delaware. She then graduated with a Master’s degree in Physician Assistant Studies from Seton Hall University, where she was awarded membership in the prestigious Alpha Eta Honors Society, the National Honors Society for Allied Health Practitioners. Prior to joining Integrated Dermatology of NJ, Sarah worked in emergency medicine for over three years. She has trained extensively in dermatology since joining the specialty in 2014. In addition to medical dermatology, Sarah is skilled in the surgical removal of skin lesions and cancers.

Dee Gwiazdowski has been in the design field for thirty-two years, nineteen of which have been with Ethan Allen as a Design Consultant. This is a second career for Dee. She is both passionate and dedicated to creating spaces that are well designed, functional and reflect her client's lifestyle and needs. Each of her projects takes into consideration the rooms' architecture and furnishings that her client wishes to incorporate into the design. Dee is a Diamond Spirit and Gold Spirit award winner.  

Marj Billker Graves joined the Army Nurse Corps during her final year of nursing school in 1967. She served as a head nurse on male orthopedic wards at Darnall Army Hospital, Fort Hood, Texas, and at Ireland Army Hospital, Fort Knox, Kentucky. As a Captain, Marj volunteered for Vietnam where she continued to serve as a head orthopedic nurse with the 24th Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh. During her tour of duty, she was selected as the nurse for a two-person medical team to accompany both the Bob Hope Christmas Tour in 1971 and the Sammy Davis, Jr. USO Show in 1972. After a return assignment in the United States at Madigan General Hospital, Tacoma, Washington, she resigned her commission to marry her husband, Bob, also a Vietnam Veteran. She was selected as Kentucky’s Vietnam Veteran for USA Today’s 2012 Veterans Day issue, has been featured in numerous articles in The Courier-Journal,  was inducted into the Kentucky Veterans Hall of Fame, is a recipient of the Daughters of the American Revolution Distinguished Citizen Medal, and in 2023 was the first female veteran to serve as Grand Marshal of Louisville’s Veterans Day Parade. She is a retired Occupational Health Manager from UPS.

Simply put…Ian is camp, and camp is Ian. He began his career as a camper, counselor, Division Leader, and administrator at a traditional day camp in New Jersey. Ian has only missed 2 summers at camp since he was 3 years old! He takes pride in his hands on approach to camping. His personal leadership and spirit are reflected in Black Bear Lake’s rich traditions, extraordinary staff, and quality program. Ian is an active member of the American Camp Association and regularly attends and participates in industry events and conferences to find ways to further improve the camp experience. Ian graduated from Rutgers University with a degree in Economics and a focus on Business Management and Entrepreneurship. He lives in Monmouth County with his wife Dara, whom he met at summer camp!

Mayor Brad Cohen was elected to the office in November 2016. The Mayor began his public career in 2010 when he was elected to the East Brunswick Board of Education. Working with a dedicated group of Board members, he helped navigate the schools through difficult economic times in the wake of the Recession and the draconian cuts in State Aid. He was named Board President in 2014 and helped select the new Superintendent of Schools. Balancing fiscal responsibilities with massive needs in information technology, strategic planning, and infrastructure, the future Mayor chose to use his skills to improve the quality of life for all the residents of East Brunswick.

Larry I. Brandspiegel joined the East Brunswick Jewish Center in August 2018 as Cantor and Director of Education before being ordained as a rabbi. Affectionately known as Rabbi/Cantor Larry, the spiritual leader now serves as the President of Jewish Educators Assembly and spiritual advisor of the Northern New Jersey Region of the Federation of Jewish Men’s clubs. With over 30 years experience, he continues his work as cantor while infusing the evolving congregation with renewed energy.

Kate Lancaster is in her ninth year working as a middle school teacher at Jamesburg Public Schools. She is also a certified Reading Specialist and was recognized as an Exemplary Educator for the 2023-2024 school year for her strong knowledge and skills, inspiring presence, and positive impact on students, colleagues and the school community as a whole. Kate's own experience, as well as her work in the public school system, connected her with the Minding your Mind nonprofit and she is now heavily involved volunteering for their organization through the annual A Celebration of Life gala in Spring Lake, NJ. Her efforts have assisted in fundraising close to $300,000 over the past three events. She is passionate about ending the stigma associated with mental health issues and takes pride in her commitment to making a difference in her community.

Aparna Parthasarathy is a high school senior passionate about remedying structural inequalities, closing educational gaps and representing Generation Z’s values to shape legislation with elected officials. Aparna is a literary advocate and author of Tales of the Invisible, a book that addresses the intersectionality of feminism and the importance of representation. Aparna served as a board member of She’s the First and was nominated as a liaison to the local women’s commission and is a youth advisor for the town’s center for domestic violence and educates peers on dating violence and women’s empowerment. Aparna is on the executive board of Model UN, educating younger students on foreign affairs and international relations and is a state advocacy lead for Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND) and contributes to increasing awareness on human rights crises and ending genocide. She is also the founder of PoliText, an organization that focuses on civil education among young adults and the importance of political knowledge and has been awarded the Presidential Volunteer Service Gold Award.

Marc Korpus, having had a fascination with maps since youth, took up the creation of of them as an occupation at age 42. He found that mapmaking is now one facet of the discipline of "geographic information systems" (GIS), which marries cartography with databases and statistics and is performed on a computer rather than a drafting board. Until his recent retirement, Marc was a GIS analyst for a nationwide engineering firm, helping engineers and scientists in such endeavors as planning freight railways in New Jersey, monitoring the fish species in New York Bay and routing power from Quebec to New York City. 

Rosa Lowinger is a Cuban-born American writer and art conservator. The author of Tropicana Nights: The Life and Times of the Legendary Cuban Nightclub (Harcourt, 2005) and Promising Paradise: Cuban Allure American Seduction (Wolfsonian Museum, 2016), she is the founder and current vice-president of RLA Conservation, LLC, the U.S.’s largest woman-owned materials conservation practice, based in Miami and Los Angeles. A fellow of the American Institute for Conservation, the Association for Preservation Technology, and the American Academy in Rome, Rosa writes regularly for popular and academic media about conservation, the arts, and Cuba. She holds an M.A. in art history and conservation from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts and divides her time between Los Angeles and Miami. Her debut memoir will be out in October, in time for National Hispanic Heritage Month. DWELL TIME: A Memoir of Art, Exile and Repair  entwines the details of conserving historic buildings and works of art with the story of her family's double exile as Jews from Eastern Europe in the 1920s and then Cuba in early 1961 (Row House Publishing; October 10, 2023). 

Neil O. Lawner’s interest in photography began when he served in the Air Force on Guam from 1966-1968.  During that time, Japanese cameras such as Nikon and Pentax were being manufactured and were available at the Base Exchange. He soon became part of the Kodachrome generation and learned the basics of operating a SLR (single lens reflex) camera.Some of his work was noticed by a gallery owner in New Brunswick who provided artwork to some of the big pharmaceutical corporations in NJ.  The gallery sold many of his black and white images to these companies over the years, and this orthodontist soon would make a switch in careers to fulltime photographer.  Fifteen years ago, when he moved to New York City, he began to capture colorful images of people, culminating in his first self-published book Coney Island, Merriment, Mermaids and Memories in 2019, followed by a second book, Masked in Manhattan, images of people going about their daily lives in the city during the pandemic. Neil joined Soho Photo Gallery on White Street in Tribeca and exhibits there on a regular basis.

SHIRLEY RUSSAK WACHTEL is an author, college professor, and host of the podcast, EXTRAordinary People.  In December, just before the launch of her successful novel, A Castle in Brooklyn (Little A), she appeared on the podcast, Too Jewish Radio.  We hope you enjoy her intriguing interview with Rabbi Samuel Cohon.  For more information, go to shirleywachtel.com

Steve Cohen has over 50 years of involvement in rugby.  He has been the catalyst in developing player safety, refereeing, and promoting the game at the grassroots level.  USA Rugby Eagle, Steve Hiatt, has said that “No conversation could take place regarding administrators and contributions to American Rugby without Steve’s name being mentioned.”  Among his many contributions was pioneering rugby safety by publishing the “Safer Rugby Program” to promote and encourage safe rugby practices.  Steve’s work in the USA Rugby Collegiate Committee led to the creation of the Division 2 playoffs.  He formed the National Small College Rugby Organization to serve Division 3 which put small colleges on the map and gave them a platform to grow and succeed as well, inspiring coaches and players. NSCRO was rebranded as National Collegiate Rugby in 2020 and now serves more than 700 men’s and women’s college teams.  In addition, Steve refereed for nearly 40 years and was a charter member of the USARFU Referees& Laws Committee.  Steve supported the growth of women’s rugby as head referee for the first five Women’s National Championships, writing articles for Rugby Magazine and providing training for women referees.

Corey Caplan is the co-founder of Dolomite, a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange (DEX for short). Prior to co-founding Dolomite, Corey graduated from Lehigh University with a degree in Computer Science and Business. Corey is passionate about the democratization of financial assets and self-sovereignty that cryptocurrencies and digital assets can offer the world. He has been working in the industry full-time since 2017, contributing to open-source repositories, building Dolomite, and pushing the boundaries beyond what's possible with digital assets.

AnnMarie Karczmit has a passion for volunteering.  A general manager at NJBIZ, a business to business newspaper, she is a wife and mother of a 21- year- old son. She started volunteering when she was 13 years old working in a nursing home and never really stopped.  AnnMarie has volunteered as a docent at a small museum, den leader/committee chair for the Boy Scouts of America, and various roles at her church, to name a few. In the past few years she took her love of volunteering and paired it with her desire to help empowering teenage girls and created a group called Girls Gifts. Girls Gifts is open to middle and high school girls and uses cooking, crafting, mentorship, and faith as a way to begin an open dialogue about what is important to them. She also runs a similar program for women called Coffee, Cake and Conversation.