In Memoriam
“When I first began my research, I was told by countless persons to contact Egon Mayer, zt’l (Hebrew initials for the words Zechor Tzaddik LeVaracha, the memory of a righteous person is a blessing). I hesitated, believing that I should be thoroughly prepared before I contacted someone of such acclaim as professor Mayer, only to have my phone ring one day and to hear him say in a beautiful Hungarian accent, “Hi, I hear you’re working on intermarriage. How can I help you?” Although I did not know him personally, his pioneering approach to studying intermarriage at the micro-level of personal experiences, mixing qualitative and quantitative studies, made a profound impression on me. I was deeply saddened by his premature death at age 59 in January of 2004 and I regret that Still Jewish was not finished in time to share with him. Love & Tradition is named for his memory, may it always be for a blessing.”
By Keren R. McGinity
“Egon, formerly director of Jewish studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and chair of Brooklyn College’s sociology department, was best known for his groundbreaking research on intermarriage — his first studies of the topic were already being talked about as the topic came to the fore after the first National Jewish Population Study in 1971. As the founding director of the Jewish Outreach Institute in New York, Egon fought to end the taboo against welcoming mixed couples into Jewish communal life, arguing that the best course was to reach out to and include as many Jews as possible in the Jewish people.”
By Rela Mintz Geffen, Forward