Jay Feinberg

Jay Feinberg Lh.D, hc

Born	Nyack, New York
Alma mater	Dickinson College
Occupation	Bone Marrow Registry CEO
Board member of	Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation

Jay Feinberg (b. August 1968 in New York) is a leukemia survivor and is the founder and current CEO of the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation.

Feinberg was a 22-year-old foreign-exchange analyst for the Federal Reserve in New York in 1991 when he was diagnosed with leukemia and told that a bone marrow transplant was his only hope. A match was not found in Mr. Feinberg’s immediate family, so his friends and relatives widened their search among Ashkenazi Jews. Feinberg's plight, along with that of Mario Cooper, a graphic design artist, and Erskine Henderson, an attorney at Skadden Arps, was featured in a New York Times article, dated December 16, 1991.^[1]

Massive screenings were organized in Jewish communities throughout North America and Israel. In addition, screenings were held in Belarus (by Arnie Draiman and Bill Begal), Australia and South Africa.^[2]

By 1995, more than 55,000 people had been tested. Feinberg’s condition was rapidly deteriorating and only a partial match had been found. A friend in Milwaukee organized one last drive and teenager Becky Faibisoff, the last person tested, was a match. Ms. Faibisoff, whose marrow saved Feinberg’s life, now lives in Riverdale and teaches at SAR Academy.

Feinberg’s experience led him to devote his life to educating and encouraging people to add themselves to bone marrow registries around the world. The Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation, the Florida-based organization of which he is founder and CEO, seeks to increase the number of registered Jews, many of whom lack extended family because of the Holocaust. Feinberg has subsequently used his recruitment model to help other under-represented groups increase their representation in the registry. According to statistics found at www.bmdw.org, Gift of Life is among the larger registries in the world.

In 2004, Feinberg was awarded the Charles Bronfman Prize for his dedication to the fight against leukemia and his service to the Jewish community. In 2005, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by Yeshiva University,^[3] along with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. In 2010, he was awarded the Jewish Community Hero Award for his inspiring service to both the Jewish community and all those in need of bone marrow transplants by Jewish Federations of North America .^[4] In 2013, Feinberg was named one of the top one hundred individuals who have positively influenced Jewish life this past year for innovation by The Algemeiner Jewish 100. In late 2013, Feinberg received the prestigious Eisendrath Bearer of Light Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Reform Movement. Feinberg shares this award with other luminaries such as Michael J. Fox, Professor Jeffrey Sachs, Rabbi Richard Hirsch, and Abba Eban.

Trivia

Feinberg graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dickinson College in 1990 with a major in political science
An honorary brother of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity
Inaugural recipient of the Charles Bronfman Prize
Inaugural recipient of the National Marrow Donor Program's Allison Atlas Award
Established the very first bone marrow registry and cord blood bank dedicated to recruitment in the Jewish community

References

External links

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