Volunteer Spotlight – Marshall Katz

 

Marshall and his family

at his daughter's College Graduation

 

This month’s volunteer spotlight focuses on KehilaLinks contributor Marshall Katz, a retired GS-13 of the U.S. Government, a retired USAF Reserve Chief Master Sergeant (E-9), and recipient of both the U.S. Civilian and the USAF Meritorious Service medals. He is married to Helen E. Fields of Pittsburgh, and has a daughter, Lena.

 

His involvement in JewishGen started when he decided to research his family history in Sub-Carpathia. Through JewishGen, he was able to make a connection with a man in Michigan whose family was from the same shtetl in Ukraine---Klyucharki (Várkulcsa)---and, coincidentally, also from the same hometown in Pennsylvania. This man has a relative who still lives in Klyucharki and with whom Marshall visits.

 

Since his retirement, Marshall, who is self-taught creating web sites, has applied his talents to creating KehilaLinks pages for the villages and towns in which our ancestors once lived. Working 12-15 hours a day, he has created 120 KehilaLinks web sites, focusing on Sub-Carpathia, Ukraine, Hungary, USA, Slovakia and Romania.

 

He also spearheaded the effort to establish JewishGen’s newest Special Interest Group – Sub-Carpathia SIG – in 2011, by creating a web site "portal" for the JewishGen Sub-Carpathia SIG which routinely receives visitors from around the world, currently from 84 countries and all 50 U.S. states.

 

As an active member of the Sub-Carpathia expat community, Marshall attends picnics and events both in the USA and in Israel, helping to promote JewishGen and the JewishGen Sub-Carpathia SIG.

 

Marshall makes himself available to help people in their Jewish genealogy research. This past spring, he was able to help a Holocaust survivor determine the birth-date of her recently deceased husband. A different time, he received an email from a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor, who, for various reasons, never saw her grandparents' tombstones in Berehove (Beregszász). Marshall was able to locate the grave, and send a photo to the survivor.

 

It is not surprising that Marshall routinely receives emails from researchers who had success as a direct result of Marshall’s efforts.

 

He has visited the Sub-Carpathia, Ukraine region frequently and has been instrumental in collecting information about its numerous villages and towns, in order to create KehilaLink web sites to benefit all researchers with an ancestral connection to Sub-Carpathia. He documents his trips and, once back home, sends out a trip report to subscribers to the Sub-Carpathia SIG (and other) mail lists. Links to his most recent trip reports (2011 & 2012) can be found here.  SEE "Travel Planning," then "Trip Reports."

 

Marshall is also a board member of "The Shalom Foundation," is active in the Zembo Shrine Antique Car unit, and has spearheaded The Packard Automobile Club (PAC) web site presence on the Internet. His 1940 Packard Limousine took "Best of Show" in 1997.  Marshall commented, "In retirement, despite the amount of time and work involved, I derive great pleasure in creating Kehilalinks for researchers today and for future generations to come."

 

Susana Leistner Bloch, JewishGen VP for KehilaLinks said it best: "It is a pleasure to work with Marshall and I wish there were more people like him dedicated to memorializing and commemorating Jewish Communities."

 

We agree.