Meet Our Members!

The Richman Family

contributed by Harold Goldring

This month's "Meet our Members" features a long (very long) time family group.  It starts back at the very beginnings of our synagogue.

Margery and Rob Richman have been members of the JCSC since 1990.  Margery's grandfather, Mac Seplow is a founding member and her Father and Mother, Fred and Ann Seplow are members.  Margery's grandmother, Ruth Seplow Mendell was very active.  So, being the current President of our shul comes naturally and easily to Rob.

Margery and Rob met while they were both attending Rutgers University and came to Newton after marriage.  They have three children:  Jordan (20) - a Rutgers Junior; Adam (16) is a sophomore at Roxbury High School and both were barMitzvah in our shul.  Sarah (10) is in 4th grade and attends our Hebrew school.  All three kids are active in athletics, fraternal organizations and socially along with their school work.

Because this column is limited to 1,000 words (please don't bother to count them), we'll limit Margery's and Rob's communal activities to the last 15 years:

Margery has run our synagogue gift shop since the mid '90s and has taught in our Hebrew School since before then.  As a member of and President of the Sisterhood (2 years) she ran several large and successful fundraisers.  She has also served on the Board of Trustees as well as holding the office of Secretary of our congregation.

Rob has also been very active.  He has served on the Board for 12 years and was Treasurer for 4 years.  He also was elected to the offices of Secretary, Vice-President and, currently, is President of the Board.

Rob graduated from Cooks College of Rutgers and is a Chiropractor/Certified Fraud Examiner and works mostly in the area of insurance fraud/evaluation/examination - consulting and testifying on behalf of the legal and insurance industries.

Margery graduated from Douglass College of Rutgers and, after college and marriage, worked in the local (Seplow) family business for 10 years.  She then continued her education - at Centenary College - and received her teaching certification there.  She currently is teaching 6th, 7th and 8th grade language arts at Mt. Arlington Public Schools.

Despite all the other demands on their time, they are active alumni of Rutgers and support Rutgers football - both at home and away games (no comments on this season, please!).

Beyond that, an occasional book gets read and Rob will deal a game or two of poker.

Our congregation is very grateful to this wonderful family and its tradition of service to our synagogue.  We hope that the family connection goes on for (as they say) another 120 years!