Recent months have seen much activity among the members of the College’s Board of Trustees. Amidst a period of great expansion, both on campus and at affiliate centers around New Jersey, four new members have been elected to the Board: Benjamin D. Eckman, Esq., of Teaneck; Robert G. Rose, Esq., of Mendham; Lawrence Singer of Livingston, and Arthur Stark of Livingston.
In welcoming them, Chairman of the Board, David T. Chase, remarked, “These distinguished community leaders, who have contributed so much to the betterment of society at large, will now help the Rabbinical College of America strengthen and expand its activities beyond all limitations.”
Benjamin D. Eckman received his Bachelor's Degree in Business/Accounting from Touro College and his law degree from Seton Hall University School of Law. He is a member of the New York State Bar Association, the New Jersey State Bar Association, the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, the Elder Law Section and Real Property, Probate and Trust Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association, and the Union County Bar Association. He has lectured extensively throughout the State on "Elder Law" & Estate Planning to many senior groups, nursing facilities, professional associations and disability support groups, and has authored articles which have been published in newspapers and journals. In addition to his legal work, Mr. Eckman is involved with many senior citizen support groups in the State. He and his wife Naomi reside in Teaneck, New Jersey with their four children ages nine, four, two and a baby born this January.
Robert G. Rose received his Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1965. He earned a Master of Arts Degree from Columbia University in 1969. He received his Juris Doctorate from Seton Hall University School of Law where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Seton Hall Law Review and, upon graduation, received the Alumni Association’s Distinguished Student Award for the Class of 1974. He then served as a law clerk to the Honorable John J. Gibbons, Judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit before starting his legal career at Pitney Hardin in 1975. He became a partner of Pitney Hardin, one of New Jersey’s largest and oldest law firms, in 1980 and over the last 25 years has focused his practice on complex commercial litigation in both Federal and State courts at the trial and appellate levels, as well as arbitration and other forms of alternate dispute resolution. He served for many years on the Supreme Court Committee on the Unauthorized Practice of Law and was its Chair in 2000-2001, has been appointed to a second term on the Lawyers Advisory Committee to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, and is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of Legal Services of New Jersey, the National Conference for Community & Justice of New Jersey and the Jewish Historical Society of MetroWest. He served as President of the Seton Hall Law School Alumni Association in 1997-98 and received its Distinguished Alumni Award in 2000. He currently serves on the Seton Hall Law School Board of Visitors and on the Dean’s Advisory Council of the College of Arts & Sciences of the State University of New York at Buffalo. He was peer voted and named a “2005 New Jersey Super Lawyer” and is listed in the 2006 edition of Best Lawyers in America. He lives in Mendham, New Jersey with his wife of 40 years, Ellen. They have two grown children, Lisa and Michael.
Lawrence Singer is an insurance agent and a Principal in the firm New Jersey Life & Casualty Associates, Inc. (“NJL&C”) in Livingston, New Jersey. Prior to joining NJL&C in 1992 he spent 17 years in the municipal bond business. He was a Senior Vice President at L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin, issuing bonds to fund building programs for Colleges and Hospitals throughout the US. He began his career as a municipal bond analyst at the Standard & Poor’s Corporation where he was a Senior Vice President in their Bond Ratings Division. Mr. Singer also has worked as a senior appointed official in New Jersey State Government, having served as the State’s Director of the Office of Public Finance from 1990 to 1992. He lives in Glen Rock, New Jersey with his wife of 30 years, Anne. They have two grown children.
Arthur Stark is President and Chief Merchandising Officer of Bed Bath & Beyond, a Fortune 500 company, with over $5 Billion in revenue and close to 800 locations throughout the United States. He joined the company in 1977 at which time there were two stores with under $1 million in revenue. Mr. Stark is also National President of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces; a member of the Central New Jersey Executive Committee of AIPAC; a member of the Board of Trustees of Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy; and a member of UJA of Central New Jersey Board of Trustees. Mr. Stark graduated from J.E.C. in Elizabeth in 1972. Arthur and his wife Sylvia reside in Livingston, NJ, and attend Congregation Etz Chaim. Their four children attend Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy and Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School.