The Ithaca Area United Jewish Community will hold a community dinner and reception to express its gratitude to its donors for their support for its programs in Ithaca and around the world. Dr. Roald Hoffmann will be honored at the event, which will take place on Monday, March 25, at 6 pm, at the Biotechnology Building on the Cornell University campus. The keynote speaker will be Menachem Rosensaft, an adjunct professor at Cornell Law School, founding chairman of the International Network of Children of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, and general counsel emeritus of the World Jewish Congress.

Reservations and ticket purchases are encouraged. The deadline for reservations is Monday, March 11. Tickets to the event and tribute gifts in honor of Hoffman may be made at https://iaujc.org/tickets or mailed to IAUJC, PO Box 4214, Ithaca, NY 14852. Questions may be directed to info@iaujc.org. The cost of tickets is $75 for adults and $36 for students. 

“We will be highlighting some of our regular programs, such as the PJ Library, Global Spotlight grants, Humanitarian Aid to Israel and support for Jewish summer campers,” said organizers of the event. “We will also be honoring a beloved member of our community, Roald Hoffmann. We are so grateful for Dr. Hoffmann’s contributions and look forward to honoring him.” 

Hoffmann is a child Holocaust survivor who arrived in the U.S. in 1949 at age 11. He came to Ithaca in 1965 from Harvard University to teach chemistry at Cornell University, primarily to undergraduates and first year chemistry students. He has had a long and distinguished career in research and teaching, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry (with Kenichi Fukui) in 1981. Hoffmann has participated in many Holocaust education presentations to adults and children. In 2017, he was the presenter at the IAUJC community commemoration, and he is an ongoing member of the IAUJC Speakers Bureau, traveling each spring to middle and high schools in the area.