David Gruber was enjoying Chanukah on Main Street in Lakewood Ranch 6 or 7 years ago, when he ran into me. We had met a few times before but did not know each other all that well. I asked him if he would like to join him on a leadership mission to Israel in a few short months and David answered unequivocally and without hesitation, “YES.” Not only was that the beginning of a new friendship between us, it was the beginning of a wonderful journey for David as he moved up the Federation ladder.
Since that time, David participated on a Chairman & Director’s mission to Budapest and Israel and most recently, this past November, co-chaired a leadership mission along with his wife Georgia, who was making her first visit to Israel. David has served on Federation’s Board of Directors as well as on Federation’s Executive Committee. He has also served as co-chairman of the Marketing and Communications Committee. Along the way, David and Georgia have become major donors and several years ago, David, through his company, Floors By Design, contributed the new flooring throughout much of the Federation building on McIntosh Road.
Everyone who works with David at Federation comes to the same conclusion: David is a fun, loving, kind and gentle soul with a “yiddisha nishama (a Jewish spirit).” In addition to his wife Georgia, David has two lovely and animated daughters who go to Camp Barney every summer and clearly have inherited David’s love for the Jewish people. David is a tennis player and actually put up over 300 pounds on a bench press a few short years ago.
For all these reasons and so many more, David is our Mensch of the Month for the month of February.
Marty Haberer is the Associate Executive Director at The Jewish Federation of Sarasota-Manatee.
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