By , Special to JTNews
Following the departure of executive director Gary Pollock this month, the Stroum Jewish Community Center of Greater Seattle has hired Jerry Melman to serve as interim executive director until a replacement is found.
The JCC’s executive search committee, headed by JCC past president Carol Harris, is actively recruiting and interviewing candidates for the position and hopes to have a new director in place by the close of the JCC’s fiscal year June 30.
Melman, a native of Yarby, Penn., has spent most of his life working in and for the Jewish community. He has held directorships at JCCs in West Palm Beach, Fla., Trenton, N.J., Birmingham, Ala., and Ottawa, Canada. After retiring from JCC work in 1994, Melman opened a family service business, but still takes on interim directorship positions on occasion. Most recently, he served as interim director at the JCC in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
Melman was approached by the JCC Association in New York to fill the position, following a request from Stroum JCC officers.
“An interim director does everything a director does,” said Melman. “He assumes the title, duties and responsibilities of the Center and its operations until a new director is brought on board.
“I like the challenge, it’s something I’m familiar with, and something I love to do. I love to work with people and I love to work with the Jewish community.”
Melman arrived in Seattle for the first time in mid-December to spend a couple of weeks shadowing Pollock before taking over.
Melman and his wife of 37 years, Tsipora, have two grown sons and three grandchildren.