STANLEY HOROWITZ, z'l

When Stanley Horowitz passed away this week, we lost a giant, a great professional, a great man, a mentsch, a giant. I don't have the facility with words sufficient to describe Stanley as we join his family in celebrating a life fully lived. Stanley's contributions to the landscape of the American federation system live after him, his gifts to our federations continue to multiply as those he trained and mentored serve our system in so many ways, contributing so much, living up to and, certainly, in many instances, beyond the expectations he had for them.

As I grew up in leadership in UJA, Stanley was at the helm of a thriving enterprise. He was a great correspondent in an age when correspondence meant a well-reasoned letter. He had a passion for the lay-professional partnership but, most of all, he had a passion for and a vision of the American Jewish community and the possibilities of and for our federations as the "system" that we have allowed to be misplaced somewhere along the way...and, in Stanley's memory, we must regain.

Stanley did not suffer fools and, therefor, those who he befriended and mentored along the way were particularly privileged. I know I was. He left the professional leadership of UJA far too soon. I valued his wisdom so much and as we moved through the merger process, my own hubris caused me to ignore his cautions and his wisdom to my current regret. His insights were spot on and my files include a sleeve containing his letters (and, later in life, his e-mails) filled with that wisdom, those insights and keen observations. Stanley was a remarkable leader as his legacy demonstrates.

To his family, certainly, and to his friends, Stanley was a man of great warmth, total integrity, absolute candor and a subtle sense of humor and, always, the warmest of smiles. My memories, our memories, of him will be for a blessing forever.

Rwexler

Stan