Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Bruce Ratner To Head Museum of Jewish Heritage

Bruce Ratner, executive chairman of Forest City Ratner Companies, was elected chairman-elect of the board of trustees of the Museum of Jewish Heritage — A Living Memorial to the Holocaust, according to a June 12 press release. Ratner is the principle developer of The Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, which includes the new Barclays Center arena.

Image by Getty Images

The position of chairman-elect is a new one for the museum, and is intended to ease the process of succession within the board. The current chairman, Robert M. Mogenthau, has served in the position since 1982 and will assume the post of chairman emeritus following a transition period.

“I’m… thrilled that the Board has elected Bruce Ratner as the Chairman-elect,” wrote Morgenthau in a statement. “Bruce has long been a friend to me and the Museum.”

Ratner has been a member of the museum’s board of trustees since 1996. He was also co-chair of its building committee and provided pro-bono project management services through his company during the museum’s expansion in the early 2000s. The Robert M. Morgenthau Wing opened in September 2003.

In a statement provided by the museum, Ratner recalled how his own family was affected by the Holocaust.

“After the war, my mother committed herself to resettling survivors, finding homes and apartments,” he said. “She, most of all, would remind us, ‘Never Forget.’ In that spirit, and her memory, I’m humbled and excited to accept the position of Chairman-elect.”

#.UbiXSPY-v34

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.