Stamford Holocaust Survivor to Receive ADL's Daniel Ginsberg Humanitarian Award

Greenwich residents Nancy and Bill Zisson will receive The Anti-Defamation League's prestigious Daniel R. Ginsberg Humanitarian Award.

The Zissons and Stamford resident Judith Altman will receive the award at the ADL’s 2013 Daniel R. Ginsberg Humanitarian Award Reception and Centennial Gala on Sunday, Oct. 20, at Temple Sholom in Greenwich.

The Daniel R. Ginsberg Humanitarian Award Reception honors those who have committed themselves to serving the lower Fairfield County community. Daniel R. Ginsberg epitomized ADL’s mission, understanding that all Americans, whatever their race, religion or ethnicity, share a common heritage and dream – our freedom. The Daniel R. Ginsberg Humanitarian Award is a living memorial that recognizes individuals who have devoted themselves to humanitarian causes.

Bill Zisson is the past president of International Commodities Export Corporation, where he has worked since 1964, and is the president of Oxbow Sulphur Inc. Both Nancy and Bill have served as past board presidents of the UJA/Federation of Greenwich and Jewish Family Services of Greenwich. 

Nancy Zisson was the assistant director of Camp Walden, a girls’ camp in Maine, for 15 years. She also worked at the media center at Greenwich High School for 22 years, where she saw ADL’s “Names Can Really Hurt Us” program in action annually. She is on the board of JCC Greenwich, is a past PTA president of North Street School, and has served as the editor of Greenwich Jewish News since its inception. Nancy and Bill moved to Greenwich in 1975 with their three children, Alex, Robin and Dan.

Holocaust survivor Judith Altmann was born in Jasina, Czechoslovakia, which was invaded by the Nazis in 1939. In 1944, she was arrested and sent to Auschwitz among other camps. In March 1945, she was transported to Bergen-Belsen on a Death March. In May 1945, Judith was liberated by the British Army and immigrated to Sweden, where she lived until 1948, when she came to the United States, settling in the Bronx.

A frequent speaker on the Holocaust, Judith has shared her story as a survivor at schools and universities throughout Connecticut and Westchester County. She is the vice president of the Holocaust Child Survivors of Connecticut and the vice president of fundraising for the Brandeis Women’s Committee.

She speaks seven languages and has served as a Russian translator for the Russian immigrants in the Russian Resettlement Program. She has also tutored reading at Hart Magnet Elementary School in Stamford for 15 years. Judith moved to Stamford with her late husband, Kurt, in 1975. She has two sons, Howard and Steven, and two granddaughters.

For more information about the gala, contact Associate Development Director Janet Magid at (203) 288-6500, ext. 313, or e-mail: jmagid@adl.org.