 JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NON PROFIT.  16 OVER 61 A collaboration between the Forward and the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan’s Wechsler Center for Modern Aging Jewish tradition is filled with stories of individuals who take transformative journeys late in their lives. Moses, Abraham, Sarah, Miriam, and Naomi are just a few who make invaluable contributions at mature ages. Instead of diminishing, their relevance to their communities intensifies as they age. The lessons we can learn from today’s older adults are no less significant.
It was this inspiration that the Marlene Meyerson JCC Manhattan's Wechsler Center for Modern Aging partnered with the Forward to present the "16 Over 61 Awards."
With these honors, we've aimed to spotlight the creativity, leadership and initiative of adults who exemplify our collective values. We received more than 100 nominations from across the U.S. and Canada, representing a vast range of experience and backgrounds. A selection committee representing both organizations, as well as professionals and laypeople from diverse fields, worked to come up with the final 16, who are profiled below. Our honorees don’t let age define or stop them. “The point,” said one of the award recipients, Gerald Cohen, “is to embrace and celebrate age wherever one is on the chronological scale. We have been granted a gift of longevity, and we must use that gift.”
“Judaism instructs that our time on earth is a gift to ourselves and to all those whom we encounter,” shared one of the honorees, Arthur Grabiner.
Those selected include rabbis, an artist, a musician, social-justice advocates, a former prison chaplain, educators, LGBTQ activists and the founder of a Jewish humor group. Stephen Rosen had his second bar mitzvah at the age of 83. Joseph Hample, the youngest honoree, is 64; Muriel Mandell, the oldest honoree, is 99. All are still active in their fields. What they have in common as Gerald Cohen put it, is the desire to “leave the world a better place.”
 Matthew Baigell  Barbara Finch  Arthur Grabiner  Sylvia Lustgarten  Stephen Rosen  Ellen Ratner  Bill Wurtzel  Randee Haven-O'Donnell  Joseph B. Hample  Noemi Masliah  Gerald Cohen  Daniel Rothstein  Zelda Stern  Dennis Klein  Muriel Mandell  Sonia Pressman Fuentes
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