West Virginia JEWISH FAMILIES & PERSONALITIES       

 

POLITICIANS  &  ELECTED  OFFICIALS

A. David Abrams, of Beckley, Fayette County, WV. Born in 1919 in Brooklyn, NY. In 1962, he served as a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates, under appointment by the Governor, during its last session, to fill a vacancy.

David Martin Baker, of Huntington, Cabell County, WV. Born in Clarksburg, Harrison County, WV., October 11, 1923. Republican. Served in the U.S. Army Air Force in World War II; lawyer; member of West Virginia State House of Delegates from Cabell County, 1953, 1957-58; defeated, 1954, 1958; vice-chair of West Virginia Republican Party, 1967. Member, American Legion; Elks; Phi Delta Phi. Still living as of 1967.

Ivor F. Boiarsky, of Charleston, Kanawha County, WV. Married to Barbara Polan. Born in Charleston, Kanawha County, WV, April 7, 1920. Democrat. Lawyer; member of West Virginia State House of Delegates from Kanawha County, 1959-71; defeated, 1952; died in office 1971. Member, American Bar Association . Burial location unknown.

Julian G. Budnick, born in Keystone on Nov. 3, 1917, received undergraduate and law degrees from West Virginia University and was a World War II veteran, enlisting in the U.S. Navy and commissioned as an officer serving in the Pacific. He was a long-time merchant and former mayor of Keystone, former head of the economic development organization in McDowell County and past president of the town's Rotary Club. He relocated to Florida in 1986 and died in West Palm Beach on March 23, 2005.

Fred H. Caplan, of Clarksburg, Harrison County, W.Va. Born in Clarksburg, Harrison County, WV, December 3, 1914. Democrat. Served in the U.S. Army during World War II; member of West Virginia State House of Delegates from Harrison County; elected 1948; judge of West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, 1962-; appointed 1962. Member, Veterans of Foreign Wars; B'nai B'rith. Died March 4, 2004, last residence was Asheville, NC.

Stanley E. Deutsch, of Kanawha County, W.Va. Born in Charleston, Kanawha County, WV, February 9, 1921. Republican. Served in the U.S. Army Air Force in World War II; lawyer; member of West Virginia State House of Delegates from Kanawha County, 1957-58; defeated, 1958. Member, Freemasons; Shriners; Elks. Died May 7, 1994, last residence was Charleston, WV.

Gene Diamond - Mayor of Martinsburg (Berkeley County), W.Va. From 1972-1978. Democrat.

Jacob Fisher - of Wheeling, served as a member of the WV House of Representatives from 1889-1901 and as a State Senator from 1901-1911

Harold Frankel - Member of Huntington City Council, Mayor of Huntington, WV (1957-1959, 1965) and Sheriff of Cabell County, WV (1960-1964). Married to Dodi Nachamson.

Harry Friedman, Grafton, Taylor County, WV. Born in Lewiston, Androscoggin County, Maine, February 4, 1883. Son of Faibel Friedman and Fannie Friedman; married, January 17, 1923, to Florence Greensfelder. Democrat. Lawyer; chair of Taylor County Democratic Party, 1940-41; member of West Virginia State Senate 14th District, 1941-42; appointed 1941. Member, Freemasons; Elks; Moose; Sigma Nu. Died December 1970, Last residence was Grafton, WV. Burial location unknown

Si Galperin, Jr., of Charleston, Kanawha County, W.Va. Born in Kanawha County, WV, August 5, 1931. Democrat. Member of West Virginia State House of Delegates, 1967-70; member of West Virginia State Senate, 1971-82. Member, Izaak Walton League. Still living as of 1982.

Jay Goldman, Charleston, Kanawha County, WV. Mayor of the City of Charleston from the late 1980's to early 1990's. Ran again in 2003?

Joseph Herzbrun - Born in Austria. Came to Welch, WV from NYC in 1898 and was the second Jewish person to settle in Welch. Served on the City Council and also as a Director of the First National Bank in Welch.

Abraham Kaplon - Born in 1875 in Russia. Businessman and Merchant in Harpers Ferry, WV. Member of City Council for over 25 years, and Mayor. Charter member of the Odd Fellows Lodge in Harpers Ferry. commissioner for the construction of the roads and pavements in Harpers Ferry. Married to Bessie Gertrude Raflo. Died June 9, 1955 in Washington, DC.

Paul Kaufman, Charleston, Kanawha County, WV Born in Charleston, Kanawha County, WV, March 16, 1920. Son of Sydney J. Kaufman and Sylvia (Miller) Kaufman; married, May 31, 1951, to Rose Jean Levinson. Democrat. Lawyer; member of West Virginia State Senate 8th District, 1961-68; candidate in primary for U.S. Representative from West Virginia 3rd District, 1974. Member, American Bar Association. Died December 1980, last residence unknown.

Leo G. Kopelman, of East Bank, Kanawha County, W.Va. Born in East Bank, Kanawha County, W.Va., December 4, 1917. Republican. Served in the U.S. Army Air Force in World War II; member of West Virginia State House of Delegates from Kanawha County; elected 1966. Member, American Legion; Freemasons; Shriners; B'nai B'rith; Elks. Died March 1983, last residence was East Bank, WV.

Abram J. Lubliner - Born in Virginia on October 25, 1900. Served in the WV State Senate from 1931-1933 and the WV State House from 1933-1947. Residence was in Bluefield, WV.

Daniel Mayer - On March 31, 1887, Governor E. Willis Wilson appointed Dr. Daniel Mayer as director of the West Virginia Hospital for the Insane, which later became Weston State Hospital. It was one of many honors bestowed upon Mayer, who was the first Jewish state official and first Jewish member of the West Virginia Legislature.He was born in Germany in 1837 and immigrated to the United States at age 15. In 1859, Mayer earned a medical degree from the Ohio Medical College of Cincinnati. When the Civil War began two years later, he moved to Mason County in present-day West Virginia and raised a Union military company. In August 1861, he resigned as captain of his company to accept the commission of first lieutenant and assistant surgeon with the 5th Virginia Infantry, which later became the Fifth West Virginia regiment. Mayer was honorably discharged in 1864 and opened a medical practice in Charleston.Mayer served as the city's health officer and on the city council. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1867. He worked as an attorney in Kanawha, Boone, and Logan counties, while continuing his Charleston medical practice. In 1873, Governor John Jacob appointed Mayer to succeed Joseph Diss Debar as the state's second Commissioner of Immigration. While Mayer served as immigration commissioner, many European Jews settled in West Virginia, particularly in Charleston.After serving as the Director of the Hospital for the Insane and in the House of Delegates, Mayer was named state surgeon general by Governor George W. Atkinson. While in this post, Mayer was appointed by President William McKinley as U.S. Consul to Argentina. He and McKinley had become friends when the two fought in West Virginia during the Civil War. Mayer retired in 1905 & moved to Cincinnati, where he died in 1910.

Theodore Albert Peyser Born in West Virginia, 1873. Democrat. U.S. Representative from New York 17th District, 1933-37; died in office 1937. Interment at United Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio. See also: Congressional biography.

Benjamin Louis Rosenbloom Born in Braddock, Allegheny County, Pa., June 3, 1880. Republican. Member of West Virginia State Senate, 1914-18; U.S. Representative from West Virginia 1st District, 1921-25; candidate in primary for U.S. Senator from West Virginia, 1924, 1934. Died in Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, March 22, 1965. Burial location unknown. See also: Congressional biography.

R.A. Salomons - of Wheeling, was a member of the WV State Senate from 1911-1913. It is possible that the surname was actually Solins.

Harold D. Slaven - of Morgantown, was a member of the house of Delegates of West Virginia and served as a representative from Monongalia County from 1937 to 1941.

Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss Born in Charleston, Kanawha County, WV. Republican. Member of Republican National Committee from Virginia, 1928; served in the U.S. Navy during World War II; U.S. Secretary of Commerce, 1958-59. American financier, chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (1953–58), In World War I he served under Herbert Hoover on the Belgian Relief Commission and the Allied Supreme Economic Council. He was a special assistant to Secretary of the Navy James Forrestal in World War II, rising to the rank of rear admiral. Associated with Kuhn, Loeb & Company from 1919, as a partner after 1929, he resigned in 1946. Strauss was a member of the Atomic Energy Commission from 1946 to 1950 and returned as its chairman in 1953. His service on the AEC was marked by several controversies, including one with the atomic physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who had opposed development of the hydrogen bomb, a project Strauss strongly advocated. His term as AEC chairman ended in June, 1958, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed him (Nov., 1958) Secretary of Commerce. Strauss held this office until June, 1959, when the Senate, in a close vote, refused to confirm the appointment. Died January 21, 1974, Brandy Station, Culpeper Co., Virginia. Lewis Lichtenstein Strauss, Jr. was born on January 31, 1896 to Lewis and Rosa (Lichtenstein) Strauss. He grew up in Richmond, and became a traveling salesman for his family's wholesale shoe business. In 1917, he presented himself to Herbert C. Hoover. At the time, Hoover was organizing volunteers in the cause of Belgian relief. Later, when Hoover became head of the Food Administration, Lewis L. Strauss became his personal secretary and accompanied him on several European missions. He worked for Hoover's election to the presidency in 1928, and maintained a life-long friendship with President Hoover until the latter's death in 1964. In 1919, Lewis L. Strauss was hired by the investment firm Kuhn, Loeb & Company, and in 1923 he married Alice Hanauer, a daughter of a partner in the firm. In 1929, he himself became a partner in the firm. One of Kuhn, Loeb & Company's founders was Jacob Schiff, the important American Jewish leader and philanthropist. As a result of Lewis L. Strauss' association with Kuhn, Loeb &. Company, he became friendly with many wealthy and influential American Jewish figures, especially the core members of the American Jewish Committee. Between 1950 and 1953, he served as financial adviser to the Rockefeller family. Lewis L. Strauss maintained a keen interest in scientific and technological advancements, and was an early investor in Kodachrome. After the death of his parents from cancer, his interest in the atom led him to fund the construction of a surge generator to produce isotopes for cancer treatment. Beginning in 1926, Lewis L. Strauss was in the Navy Reserve, and he entered active duty in 1941, becoming adviser to Navy Undersecretary James Forrestal. He directed the development of the radar proximity fuse, conceived of the Big "E" war production incentive program, and in 1945 was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral by President Truman. In 1946, Truman appointed Lewis L. Strauss to serve on the Atomic Energy Commission, on which he served through 1950. In 1953, President Eisenhower reappointed Lewis L. Strauss to the commission, this time as its chairman. As the breadth of the Papers of Admiral Lewis L. Strauss illustrates, Lewis L. Strauss was deeply committed to American Jewish life and Jewish welfare generally. He served as a member of the board of directors of several important Jewish philanthropic, academic and communal organizations, and he also maintained a special interest in inter-religious affairs. In his lifetime, Lewis L. Strauss was thrust into public controversy on several occasions. In the 1920s and 1930s, he played a central role in combating the anti-Semitic propaganda of Henry Ford and Father Charles E. Coughlin. Also beginning in this period, he became a leading member of the American Jewish Committee and embroiled in disputes over Zionism and American Jewish politics, notably the American Jewish Conference. Later, during his tenure as chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, he attracted public attention when the White House suspended the security clearance of Commissioner J. Robert Oppenheimer. Lewis L. Strauss eventually voted against Oppenheimer's reinstatement to the Atomic Energy Commission, but he did seek to have him retained in the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study and other nuclear research enterprises. In 1954, another controversy flared when the Atomic Energy Commission engaged the Dixon-Yates combine to erect a power plant in West Memphis, Arkansas. Lewis L. Strauss, a deeply conservative Republican, was eager then to admit private industry into the nuclear field. But liberals saw in the Dixon-Yates contract a threat to the Tennessee Valley Authority and public power. They attacked the contract so vigorously that President Eisenhower canceled it in 1955. In 1958, President Eisenhower appointed Lewis L. Strauss to be Acting Secretary of Commerce, and in 1959 he nominated him for the position. After a protracted public debate concerning ethical considerations, and one in which the specter of anti-Semitism was also raised, the Senate refused to confirm Lewis L. Strauss' nomination. Following this episode, Lewis L. Strauss returned to private life. On January 21,1974, Lewis L. Strauss died at the age of 78 at his home in Brandy Station, Culpeper Co., Virginia.

Alan L. Susman of Beckley, Raleigh County, WV. Born in High Point, Guilford County, NC, April 8, 1930. Democrat. Member of West Virginia State Senate, 1971-82; delegate to Democratic National Convention from West Virginia, 1972. Member, Freemasons; Shriners; B'nai B'rith; Elks; Moose. Still living as of 1982.

Matthew Wender, of Oak Hill, Fayette County, WV. Member of the County Commission of Fayette County, President of the Commission 2005.

 

BUSINESS, EDUCATION, SPORTS, ETC

Morris Berman was a photographer whose photograph of bloodied New York Giants quarterback Y. A. Tittle kneeling in the end zone ranks among the most famous images in sports history. The photograph was taken in 1964 in the last game of Tittle's career while Berman was working for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The photograph now hangs in the National Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. Berman also served as an Army photographer in World War II. His best known work in the Army were images of the corpses of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress. Berman was a native of Wheeling. He worked for the Wheeling News and Pittsburgh Sun Telegraph before joining the Post-Gazette. He died on June 16, 2002, at age 92.

Kenneth "Ken" Chertow, Born in Huntington, WV. While at Huntington High School, Chertow was the U.S. Junior champion in the 123-pound freestyle and Greco-Roman competitions in 1984. In 1985, Chertow competed in the Maccabiah Games, and the following year, he was the World Junior champion in the both the freestyle and Greco-Roman classes. 1986 was also the year Chertow became a member of the U.S. National team; he was a member of the team until 1993.He was a member of the U.S. wrestling team at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, competing in the 114.5 pounds division (freestyle). In the first round, he lost a 5-1 decision to Thierry Boudin. While at Penn State University (class of 1989), Chertow excelled on and off the mat. A three-time All-America who finished third at the NCAA championships in 1987 (126-pounds) and 1988 (118-pounds), Chertow was World Espoir Champion and Pan American Games Champion while in college. He also graduated with a 3.6 GPA and was a three-time Academic All-America. Chertow is still ranked fifth all-time in school history in matches (154) and is eighth in victories (115). After his competitive wrestling career ended, Chertow spent the next five years coaching the sport at Ohio State and Penn State. In 1994, he stopped coaching to concentrate on the development of his wrestling school and the Gold Medal Training Camp System, which he owns and directs. He has trained champions at all levels and is considered one of the top coaches in the United States. Chertow now coaches youth wrestling full time and has written a book about his experiences titled, "Wrestling: Commitment to Excellence."

Stan Cohen of Missoula, MT, is the author and most prolific publisher of West Virginia Civil War history. The Charleston native has assisted many authors and historians while himself vigorously promoting the state's history. He operates Pictorial Histories Publishing Company. Nominated by Kanawha Valley Civil War Roundtable. Was one of the Year 2000 West Virginia History Heroes

Marshall "Biggie" Goldberg, Goldberg played halfback and fullback at the University of Pittsburgh from 1936-1938. He played as a halfback, fullback, and defensive back in the NFL with the Chicago Cardinals from 1939-1943 and from 1946-1948. He was born on October 24, 1917 and was a graduate of Elkins High School. Goldberg was a West Virginia high school legend, captaining his football, basketball, and track teams, and being selected All-State in each sport. Although rumors had him attending Notre Dame, Goldberg decided to play at the University of Pittsburgh instead. A natural left-handed passer and kicker, he was converted into a righthander by Pitt coach Jock Sutherland. In 1936, Biggie became one of the few sophomores to start at Pitt and was an instant success. Goldberg was named by Sports Illustrated to the 1930s "College Football Team of the Decade." In 1958, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame. In 1987, when the University of Pittsburgh celebrated its 200th anniversary, Biggie was honored with a Bicentennial Medallion for his contributions to the school. Biggie was also named to the Cardinals All-Century Team.

Bernard H. Hyman (1897-1942) Born in Grafton, WV. Producer who entered American film as a writer, adapting The Black Bag (1922) at Universal. He had two other writing credits (The Married Flapper and Confidence, both also 1922) before he directed Morals For Men (1925) at Tiffany Productions. In 1932, he began producing at MGM, with quite a bit of his work as producer or associate producer going uncredited. Some of the notable films he worked on at Metro include Tarzan the Ape Man and Rasputin and the Empress (both 1932), The Barbarian, Hold your Man and The Solitaire Man (all 1933), The Cat and The Fiddle, Tarzan and His Mate, Stamboul Quest, The Girl From Missouri and Forsaking All Others (all 1934), After Office Hours, One New York Night, Escapade and I Live My Life (all 1935), San Fransisco, Tarzan Escapes and Camille (all 1936),Saratoga and Conquest (both 1937) and The Great Waltz (1938). Nominated for Best Picture 1936: San Fransisco

Leslie Kay (formerly Lesli Pushkin or Lesli Kay Sterling) (1965- ) joined the cast of As the World Turns on March 1, 1997, as Molly Conlan. She grew up in Charleston and attended George Washington High School.

Jon D. Levenson is the Albert A. List Professor of Jewish Studies at the Harvard Divinity School. His research interests are in the evolution of Jewish theology throughout the biblical, rabbinic, and modern periods, in literary study of the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, and in the interaction of intellectual history and biblical interpretation. He deals primarily with literary and theological issues in ancient Judaism. He was born in Wheeling and graduated from high school there in 1967.

Charles H. Levine was one of Charleston's most colorful sports figures and generous benefactors. His son Bob bought an International League baseball franchise in 1971 and named it the Charleston Charlies in honor of his father, who was an avid baseball fan and who watched the Charlies, seated in a wheelchair, wearing a derby hat, and smoking a cigar. Levine referred to himself as "Poor Charlie" during his earlier years as a scrap-metal dealer in Beckley. He died in 1981 at age 89.

Rabbi Daniel Lowy of Wheeling retired after 21 years as spiritual leader of Temple Shalom in Wheeling, where he served as volunteer archivist for the Craft-Good Archives. Since retirement, he has been researching and writing a history of the ISO-year contributions of the Jewish community in Wheeling. Nominated by Friends of Wheeling, Inc. Was one of the Year 2000 West Virginia History Heroes

Jacob Rader Marcus, historian, educator, rabbi, and founder of the American Jewish Archives was born near Connellsville, Pennsylvania on March 5, 1896. At an early age, ca. 1903, the Marcus family moved to Wheeling, West Virginia. At the age of 15, while attending the University of Cincinnati and Hebrew Union College. Marcus received his B.A. degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1917. After receiving his B.A. degree, Marcus served in the U.S. Army. In June 1920, a year after his return from the army, Marcus was ordained a rabbi and was appointed to the faculty of Hebrew Union College. He went to Germany to study at the University of Berlin in 1923 and received his Ph.D. in 1925, magna cum laude. He returned to Cincinnati in 1926 and continued teaching at the Hebrew Union College. He taught courses in the Bible and modern history. In 1926 Marcus began to publish primarily in the area of German-Jewish history. Two books were especially noteworthy: The Rise and Destiny of the German Jew (1934) and Communal Sick-Care in the German Ghetto (1947). In 1938 he published The Jew in the Medieval World, the first source book in English on medieval Jewish history, still used as a text for college courses nearly six decades after its first publication. In 1942, Marcus taught the first course ever to be given in any university in American Jewish history. In 1947, in the aftermath of World War II, Marcus established the American Jewish Archives on the campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. He recognized the need to preserve congregational records and documents relating to American Jewish communal life. The American Jewish Archives, under the direction of Jacob R. Marcus has grown to be one of the largest archives in the world devoted to the history of the Western Hemispheric Jewish experience. For over half a century, Jacob Rader Marcus was a commanding figure among historians of the American Jewish experience. No one was as thorough a researcher, no one produced such readable narratives, no one published as many books and scholarly articles, no one pursued with such singularity of purpose the systematic archival collection of the 350-year experience of Jews in the New World. In 1970 Marcus published a three-volume history, The Colonial American Jew and later, a four-volume study United States Jewry, 1776-1984 (1989-1993). Both represent a level of historical research and scholarship that will most probably never be equaled. In all, Jacob Rader Marcus wrote or edited nearly 30 volumes on European and American Jewish history and well over 250 scholarly articles. In 1959 he was appointed to the Milton and Hattie Kutz Distinguished Service Chair in American Jewish History at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion which he occupied until the time of his death. He was the director of the American Jewish Archives. He was a past president of the American Jewish Historical Society and a former trustee of the Jewish Publication Society. In addition, he was president and then honorary president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the rabbinic organization of Reform Judaism. He also was the recipient of eight honorary degrees and two Festschriften, and he was a 50-year member of the AHA. In 1987, the City of Cincinnati commemorated his 50 years at the same address by naming the corner on which he lived the Jacob Rader Marcus Square. In 1925, he married Antoinette Brody from New York who was studying voice in Berlin. They were married in Paris on December 31. She died in 1953. They had one daughter, Merle Judith, who also preceded him in death in 1965. Jacob Rader Marcus died on November 14, 1995 at the age of 99 years.

Jules "Julie" Rivlin, Born in Wheeling, WV in 1917, Rivlin played collegiate basketball at Marshall College. A three-year starter, Rivlin scored 434 points during his sophomore season (1937-38), a school record that stood until 1945-46 as Marshall won the Buffalo Conference and had an overall record of 28-4. The following year, Rivlin was the second highest scorer in college basketball as Marshall repeated as conference champions and finished 22-5. Then, Rivlin became Marshall's first basketball All-American as a senior in 1940 as he led the Thundering Herd to a record of 25-4. He finished his career with 1,093 points, another school record (now surpassed). After graduating, Rivlin turned professional and played in the National Basketball League with the Akron Goodyear Wingfoots in 1940-41. That year, he appeared in 21 games and scored 51 points as Akron finished the season with a record of 11-13 and in sixth place. During World War II, Rivlin, like many professional and college basketball players, played on service teams. Located in Wyoming at Fort Warren, Rivlin was named AAU All-America in 1943 (at the time, the professional-amateur rules were not as strictly enforced). Following the war, Rivlin returned to the professional game in the NBL. In 1946-47, he was the player/coach for the Toledo Jeeps and appeared in 44 games (scoring 280 points) as the Jeeps finished the regular season with a record of 21-23 and in third place in the Eastern Division. In the playoffs, the Jeeps lost in the first round to the Fort Wayne Pistons, three games to two as Rivlin scored 27 points in the series. That same year, the Jeeps participated in the World Professional Basketball Tournament, a tournament consisting of league and independent teams (such as the Harlem Globetrotters). Rivlin was named MVP and first-team all tournament as the Jeeps surprised everyone and reached the final (in the semifinal, they upset the defending champion Pistons by a score of 61-56 as Rivlin scored seven points). The Jeeps lost in the final to the Indianapolis Kautskys, 62-47 as Rivlin was held scoreless. Rivlin played one more season of professional basketball with the Jeeps in 1947-48 as the team finished 22-37. After his playing days, Rivlin returned to his alma mater and coached Marshall from 1955-63, earning a career record of 100-88. In 1956, he led the basketball team (led by future Hall of Famer Hal Greer) to an 18-4 record and the first Mid-American Conference championship. They were defeated by Morehead State 107-92 in the Herd's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. In 1974, Julie coached Maccabi Union's basketball team to the Europe Maccabiah Games Championships. Rivlin was named second team All-Century Marshall University Basketball Team, and is a member of the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame.

Benjamin Louis Rosenbloom, Born in Braddock, Allegheny County, Pa., June 3, 1880. Republican. West Virginia politician, See entry above. Played football for the University of West Virginia from 1900 -1901.

Alex Schoenbaum (1915-1996) Born in Charleston, Alex Schoenbaum was the founder of the Shoney's Restaurant chain, one of the largest businesses to originate in West Virginia. In 1947 Schoenbaum opened his first drive-in restaurant, Parkette, in Charleston. In 1952, it became the first restaurant in the Shoney's chain after Schoenbaum obtained the regional marketing rights to the Big Boy trademark. In 1971, Schoenbaum and restaurateur Ray Danner merged their companies to form Shoney's Big Boy Enterprises, Inc. In 1976 Big Boy was dropped from the name. Mr. Schoenbaum was a major benefactor and philanthropist in the general and Jewish Community.

Joseph L. "Bullet" Silverstein, Silverstein played fullback at Washington & Lee from 1917-1920 and was a four-year letter winner for Washington & Lee and was named All-South Atlantic in 1919 and 1920. Joe also lettered three times in track; in 1921, he set a school record in the discus throw with a toss of 112'11". After graduating in 1922, he helped organize a professional team in Charleston. Joe Silverstein was born June 18, 1898 in Montgomery, WV and died July 6, 1950. In 1999, Silverstein was inducted into the Washington and Lee Athletic Hall of Fame.

Hyman "Caesar" Wender, Oak Hill, Fayette County, WV. Hyman Wender was a hard-nosed football player on offense and defense and was the first Oak Hill High School athlete to receive All-State recognition. Hyman played at Virginia Military Institute for two years. Was among the first inductees into the Oak Hill Hall of Fame.

 

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