Jay Feinberg
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Jay Feinberg (b. February 27, 1969 in New York) is a leukemia survivor and is the founder and current Director of The Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation.
Jay was a 22-year-old foreign-exchange analyst for the Federal Reserve in New York in 1991 when he was diagnosed with leukemia and told that a bone marrow transplant was his only hope. A match was not found in Mr. Feinberg’s immediate family, so his friends and relatives widened their search among Ashkenazi Jews.
Massive screenings were organized in Jewish communities throughout North America and Israel. By 1995, more than 55,000 people had been tested. Jay’s condition was rapidly deteriorating and only a partial match had been found. Then a miracle happened. A friend in Milwaukee organized one last drive and teenager Becky Faibisoff, the last person tested, was a match. Ms. Faibisoff, whose marrow saved Jay’s life, now lives in Riverdale and teaches at SAR Academy.
Mr. Feinberg’s experience led him to devote his life to educating and encouraging people to add themselves to bone marrow registries around the world. The Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation, the Florida-based organization of which he is founder and executive director, seeks to increase the number of registered Jews, many of whom lack extended family because of the Holocaust.
In 2004, Jay was awarded the Charles Bronfman Prize for his dedication to the fight against leukemia and his service to the Jewish community.
[edit] Trivia
- Jay Graduated from Dickinson College in 1990 with a major in political science
- A brother of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity
- Inagural recipient of the Charles Bronfman Prize
- Inagural recipient of the National Marrow Donor Program's Allison Atlas Award
- Established the very first bone marrow registry and cord blood bank dedicated to recruitment in the Jewish community
[edit] See also
- Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation
- Videos about Gift of Life and Jay Feinberg
- Yeshiva University Honorary Doctorate
- 1995 Article detailing Jay's fight with Leukemia
- Hadassah International World Citizen Award
- National Marrow Donor Program Allison Atlas Award
- Inagural recipient of the Charles Bronfman Prize
