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2006 SPECIAL SESSION I


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 5023
Commending Donald A. Sacarob and Joan Walder Sacarob.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, May 10, 2006
Agreed to by the Senate, May 12, 2006

 

WHEREAS, Donald A. Sacarob was born and raised in Haverhill, Massachusetts, attended the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, where he met his future wife, Joan, at a social event, and graduated from the academy in 1956; and

WHEREAS, Joan Walder Sacarob was born and raised in Annapolis, Maryland, where she was a member of Kneseth Israel Congregation, and attended the University of Maryland, majoring in education; and

WHEREAS, Don and Joan Sacarob moved to the Sleepy Hollow Run community of Fairfax County, Virginia, in 1958, where they raised two children—Harvey, who lives with his wife, Melinda, and daughter in Kona, Hawaii; and Susan, who lives with her husband, Lon, and two daughters in Middleton, New York; and

WHEREAS, Don and Joan Sacarob joined the Arlington-Fairfax Jewish Congregation where Don served as the shofar blower or ba’al tekiah for over 20 years, twice served as its President, and was a member of its Jewish Community Council, and Joan served as President of the Sisterhood; and

WHEREAS, after service as an officer in the Naval Supply Corps, Don Sacarob worked as a marketing executive for technology companies doing business for defense and intelligence agencies of the federal government, and, after his retirement became Director of Membership of the Navy League of the United States; and

WHEREAS, Don Sacarob is a Life Member of both the Naval Academy Alumni Association and Naval League of the United States and is a member of Post 676 of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States where he has served as its Commander; and

WHEREAS, a member of Hadassah Associates,  Don Sacarob has been a National Vice President of the organization since 2001, and was named 2001 Associate of the Year of the Northern Seaboard Region of Hadassah Associates; and

WHEREAS, Don Sacarob has served on the board of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington and is a board member of the National Capital Chapter of the Crohns and Colitis Foundation; and

WHEREAS, Don and Joan Sacarob are founding members of the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia; and

WHEREAS, a professional Event Coordinator and Party Planner, Joan Sacarob has been named by Washingtonian magazine as one of Washington’s “Top Wedding Planners” for nine years and was named “Best Jewish Wedding Planner” by Washingtonian magazine for two years in a row; and

WHEREAS, Joan Sacarob has been active in Hadassah, the women’s Zionist organization, since her youth and is a Life Member, a member of the National Board, a former National Vice President, a member of the Major Gift Division, past President of the Northern Seaboard Region of Hadassah, past President of the Northern Virginia Chapter, member of the Washington Task Force in the Leadership, Education, and Training Center, and served as Chair of the Capital District Area Development Center of the organization; and

WHEREAS, as a member of the Hadassah International Board, Joan Sacarob served as Chair of the Government Relations Committee, was the Hadassah Washington representative where she was the Congressional liaison for the American Schools and Hospitals Abroad grant program, was first Chair of its Washington Special Program where she inaugurated the “Washington Day on the Hill,” and served as Hadassah representative of the American Jewish Committee “First Tuesday” briefings; and

WHEREAS, at the 2005 Hadassah national convention in Washington, D.C., Joan Sacarob was honored for her 33 years of continual service to the National Board, which included being a Hadassah observer to the 1977 National Women’s Conference of the International Women’s Year in Houston and a Delegate to the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem in 1978 and 1982; and

WHEREAS, Joan Sacarob served on the board of the American Jewish Committee and is a founding board member of the Northern Virginia Jewish National Fund where she chaired the first annual fundraising dinner; and

WHEREAS, Joan Sacarob is a Life Member of Brandeis and the Hebrew Home of Greater Washington, is a member of Friends of the Holocaust Museum, and is a Student of the Florence Melton School of Jewish ethics; and

WHEREAS, involved with the sale of Israel Bonds since the 1960s, Joan Sacarob was honored as the Woman of the Year by the Bond Office  and served three terms on the National Board of the American Zionist Federation; and

WHEREAS, Joan Sacarob served as treasurer of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington and was first chair of its Legislative Breakfast; and

WHEREAS, as a National Cochair of the Free Wallenberg Committee, Joan Sacarob stood in the Rose Garden with President Ronald Reagan as he announced that Raul Wallenberg was named an honorary citizen of the United States; and

WHEREAS, as a member of the United Jewish Appeal Federation of Northern Virginia, Joan Sacarob served as a member of the cabinet and on the board of the Women’s Division, chaired the first Northern Virginia Women’s Luncheon, worked on “Super Sunday” and many of the “Black and Gold” banquets; and

WHEREAS, in 1984 following Shabbat services for their daughter’s wedding, Don and Joan Sacarob organized all 150 wedding guests to carry torahs and stand vigil in front of the embassy of the Soviet Union in Washington to protest Soviet refusal to allow Jewish emigration; and

WHEREAS, Don and Joan Sacarob worked tirelessly to free Soviet “Refuseniks,” including laboring for almost five years for the successful release from Siberia of Ida Nudel, and aided in the resettlement of many Russian Jewish immigrant families in Northern Virginia; and

WHEREAS, Don and Joan Sacarob hosted the wedding of a young Russian Jewish immigrant bride whose parents had not been allowed to immigrate to the United States and are godparents to their twin children; and

WHEREAS, members of the Olam Tikvah Congregation, Don and Joan Sacarob both serve on the Capital Campaign Committee; Joan has been chair of the Cookbook Project for “With Love and Best Dishes” for three straight years, and Don serves on the Religious Committee; and

WHEREAS, Joan Sacarob was appointed by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to the Health and Human Services Commission; and

WHEREAS, Don and Joan Sacarob will receive the 2006 Distinguished Service Award from the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington on April 26, 2006; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly commend Donald A. Sacarob and Joan Walder Sacarob for their outstanding leadership, their devotion to the cause of human and civil rights, and their humanitarian service to the nation and the Commonwealth of Virginia over many years; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to Donald A. Sacarob and Joan Walder Sacarob as an expression of the General Assembly’s admiration and gratitude for their many achievements.