Jay R. Roth, 63, has officially retired this week from his position as president of the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center, after 24 years as head of the organization.
In addition, his wife, Susan, has left the position of director of family services.
The JCC was planning to send a statement announcing this to its members this week, according to Mark F. Shapiro, acting executive director.
Milwaukee Jewish Federation President Bruce A. Arbit said in a statement Monday: “The Milwaukee Jewish Federation is supportive of the future direction and change of professional leadership announced” by the JCC.
“As an independent constituent agency, with its own volunteer chair and board of directors, the JCC makes its own strategic and operational decisions.”
“We look forward to a bright future for the JCC and for all of the organizations and institutions that define our vibrant Milwaukee Jewish community,” Arbit said.
Jay and Susan had been placed on administrative leave in June. Todd R. Lappin and Jay Roth both said in telephone conversations Monday that a “negotiating process” took place between then and the official announcement of Roth’s retirement.
Shapiro told The Chronicle in a telephone interview Monday that after the completion of the federation-led Community Capital project, which included construction on the Karl Campus, “the JCC has embarked on a focus toward programs and services. As part of it, Jay upon his return from [a recent trip to] Israel was contemplating early retirement.”
Roth himself said, “I think there was a mutual sense that early retirement would be good for me” and that the last 24 years “has taken a lot of energy and effort.”
He did say that he and Susan are planning to stay in Milwaukee, partly because they have one child in Chicago and another in Madison, but also because “we have a wonderful cadre of friends and supporters here in Milwaukee.”
He also said he is “going to explore options and possibilities” of other employment both within and outside the Jewish community.
The JCC hired Roth in December 1984 after he had spent six years directing a Young Men’s-Young Women’s Hebrew Association in the New York City area.
Lappin and Shapiro said the JCC will embark on a search for a new director, and will seek the assistance of the Jewish Community Center Association, the JCC’s national organization, in that process.
Shapiro added that he is interested in seeking the position, and Lappin said “he is certainly a candidate” and has “done an excellent job as interim exec.”
Lappin said a search of this type “typically takes two or three months,” but “I don’t know if this situation is typical or not” or how the current national economic situation may affect the process.
Loading ...