JEWISH SENTINEL

16 JEWISH WORLD • DECEMBER 20-26, 2024 Raab To The Rescue-Again Having transformed Hunter, she focuses now on stem cells By WALTER RUBY J ennifer Raab, the longtime president of Hunter College who transformed the institution into a model for public higher edu- cation nationwide, is now putting her expertise to work as president of the New York Stem Cell Founda- tion (NYSCF)—an organization and cause she believes is infused with the Jewish values she brought with her from her days growing up in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan. Raab is widely known and cele- brated as the initiator of what she calls the “institutional transforma- tionµ oI high Srofile organi]ations that had seen better days but which she managed to revive stronger than ever. In an interview, she said she accomplishes this by “helping insti- tutions find their ne[t chaSter Eased on strategic vision and maximum impact.” $Pong the high Srofile institu- tions she has helped revitalize are the NewYork City Landmarks Pres- ervation Commission and Hunter College. She brought to these tasks her Jewish values, she said, includ- ing reverence for education, a com- mitment to social justice and to tik- kun olam (the Jewish mission to “repair the world”), and creating opportunities for people who, like herself, came from disadvantaged backgrounds. Raab was the youngest of four children born to parents who both went to work after graduating high school. Money was extremely tight and only became tighter after her father, who delivered bread for Pech- ter’s Bakery, died when she was still very young, putting top-tier educa- tional opportunities out of reach. Raab, however, was invited by Hunt- er College High School, the “little sister” of Hunter College, to take its entrance test. She was one of only ten classmates to receive that covet- ed and, for her, life-changing invita- tion. She recalled that just three of the ten were accepted, “and I was one of them.” That huge honor did not go over well in Raab’s home precincts. “People were saying to me, ‘Listen, Hunter College High School is a girls’ school in a fancy area, so if you go there, you’ll become a man-hater and a snob.” (Hunter High went co-ed only in 1974, soon after Raab graduated.) Fortunately for Raab, her mother was decidedly not among the de- tractors. “My mother had no educa- tion herself but was very Jewish in her commitment to education, so she told me emphatically, ‘You are getting on the bus [to Hunter].’” That long daily bus ride Raab took to and from her home in Wash- ington Heights ran through central Harlem down to Hunter College High’s swank Upper East Side PROFILE Raab's expertise is infused with the Jewish values she learned in her youth. 1ennifer 9aab s student portrait in the /unter *ollege /igh School yearbook. 9aab as she looks today. Happy Hanukkah Call Now and Save!