AARON PANKEN

PANKEN--Aaron, Rabbi Dr.

The Board of Governors, Boards of Overseers, administration, faculty, students, and alumni of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion mourn the tragic and untimely death of our beloved President, inspiring teacher, exemplary leader of Reform Judaism, and champion of the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Ordained by HUC-JIR in New York in 1991, Rabbi Panken joined the HUC-JIR faculty in 1995, and served as Dean of Students (1996-1998), Dean of the New York Campus (1998-2007), and Vice President for Strategic Initiatives (2007-2010), before being becoming the 12th President in HUC-JIR's 143- year history on January 1, 2014. As HUC-JIR President, Rabbi Panken implemented his transformative vision by embedding new technology in support of student learning and administration, renovating and transforming the Jerusalem campus into a dynamic educational and cultural center for the larger public, strengthening recruitment to yield the largest incoming classes in the U.S. and Israel in a decade, launching new Jewish education, nonprofit management, and entrepreneurship programs and academic partnerships, and invigorating the ties linking HUC-JIR's four campuses in Cincinnati, Jerusalem, Los Angeles, and New York and their larger communities and regions. A staunch advocate for religious pluralism in Israel, he ordained the 100th Israeli Reform rabbi graduating from HUC-JIR's Israeli Rabbinical Program on November 16, 2017. His enormous contributions will endure as a sacred legacy. Our heartfelt sympathy to his wife, Lisa Messinger, their children, Eli and Samantha, his parents, Beverly and Peter, his sister, Rabbi Melinda Panken (Glenn Cohen) and their family, his father-in-law, Martin E. Messinger, and his sisters-in-law, Daryl Messinger (Jim Heeger), Rabbi Sarah Messinger (Rabbi Jeff Eisenstat), and Alice Messinger and their families. Funeral services on Tuesday, May 8, at 1:00pm at Westchester Reform Temple, 255 Mamaroneck Road, Scarsdale, NY. Memorial services to be announced. Rabbi Aaron Panken's family requests donations in his memory be made to help fulfill his vision for his beloved Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion at HUC-JIR, One West Fourth Street, New York, NY 10012 or huc.edu/memorial Andrew R. Berger, Chair, Board of Governors Sue Neuman Hochberg, Chair-Elect, Board of Governors