Hall of Fame 2019 Inductees

Marvin Baumel was born in 1925 and raised in Coney Island. He came to Miami Beach with his parents in 1938 and fell in love with all things Latin: food, music, girls. By the age of 15 he could read, write and speak fluent Spanish. At 16 he received the American Legion Art Award for his MBSH murals which were featured in a story by Miami Herald Arts Editor, Doris Reno.

Marvin was a member of the Army War Department Show Orchestra The Khaki Kaballeros and a Ft. Wayne Philharmonic percussionist with his older brother violinist Herbert, assistant conductor, who later was the original Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway. As bandleader Rey Mambo, his Latin band featured singer Lynita, his wife of 59 years (a monument to endurance on her part). His band opened major Miami Beach nightclubs and hotels in the 1950’s. Other achievements include: percussion accompanist to renowned International Star Josephine Baker; stand-up comedian touring the Playboy Club Circuit; TV, Film Actor on the Jackie Gleason Show, in Sinatra films Tony Rome, Lady in Cement (created own role), Goodbye, Columbus with Jack Klugman, Flipper, Gentle Ben, numerous Spanish TV interviews and dubbed the voice for Mexican movie Superstar Cantinflas; President Screen Actors Guild, Florida Branch; 35 years as "The Genuine Authentic Fake!", a humorous conference speaker to Fortune’s Top 100 Companies and over a million people and featured on the front page of The Wall St. Journal. Most recently he was featured in the World Premiere of THE MAMBONIKS at the 2019 Miami Film Festival.

Today I enter the Miami Beach Senior High School Hall of Fame as a representative of the "Legal Profession," and I certainly am proud of my accomplishments in that sphere. I’ve practiced law in Miami Beach for over fifty years, earning two Board Certifications along the way and serving as President of the Miami Beach Bar Association. For the most part, I’ve focused on local governmental law, where I worked as Town Attorney of Surfside for thirty years, represented over fifty governmental pension boards around the State and published a monthly newsletter distributed to over a thousand lawyers and government officials.

But my dedication to the law has been a part of a larger, life-long dedication to helping people, especially those people less fortunate than I. I thank my parents, Irving and Hazel Cypen, for setting this example for me to follow. I have always strived not just to participate in charitable and civic pursuits but to lead. Whether as Chairman of the Board of Miami Jewish Health Systems, President of the Jerome A. Yavitz Charitable Foundation, of Miami Beach Kiwanis Club, or of Miami Beach Civic League, I have, I hope, made our community a better place, especially in the fields of health care, education and legal services for the indigent.

I’m grateful to my family, including my wife, Arlyn, my children and grandchildren, for their love and support that have allowed me to succeed. It is the highest honor to be recognized by one’s peers, and I thank the Miami Beach Senior High School Alumni Association with all my heart.

We immigrated to Miami Beach in March 1950. In June of that year, just after first grade at age 7, I contracted polio and spent the next three months at Variety Children’s Hospital in Coral Gables, then six months at the Warm Springs Rehabilitation Institute in Georgia. I returned to second grade at Nautilus School wearing a full leg brace and using crutches. I was on crutches until the middle of fifth grade and wore that damn brace until I was 17 years-old. (Now in my mid-70s, I again am wearing a brace and using crutches or a cane.)

Consequently, due primarily to my disability (and to some degree my personality), I was out of the mainstream at MBHS. No clubs. No organized sports. My passion was (and still is) fishing, and hanging out with a group of close friends, many from my neighborhood at 44th and Nautilus Drive: Bob and Jeffrey Quittner; Mike Mann, Mike Coppola; Paul Wilson; Alan Margolis; Rich Cowen; Jack Attias. Didn’t date girls until my senior year.

Academically I was just a bit above average in high school, until I took English with Miss Curto. There I learned for the first time to appreciate literature (especially Shakespeare; I can still recite soliloquies from Macbeth and Hamlet), and how to write concisely and persuasively. Truly the most outstanding teacher I had at MBHS.

I took the well-worn path to the University of Florida in 1961, joined AEPi, and began to get top grades. By the middle of my sophomore year, Jim Crow and the punitive fraternity scene at the U of F got to me and I transferred to Boston University. My brother Larry (MBHS ’58) was at Harvard Dental School and convinced me to come to Boston. Mike Coppola and I rented an apartment on Beacon Street, where I met my future wife, Joyce, the first week we were there. We are still together some 56 years later. From BU to Northwestern University Law School in Chicago, after which I clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals in the same building in the Loop in which I now sit as a federal district judge after practicing law in Chicago for 24 years with a mid-sized firm. During those years I specialized in civil litigation, and spent a large part of my time doing pro bono work, mainly in the fields of prison reform and disability rights. It was that work that ultimately led to my nomination and appointment as a federal judge in 1994, a long story that would take far more than 2,500 words to explain.

Joyce was a licensed clinical social worker for many years and retired last year. We have two amazing children. Our daughter Lynn Gettleman Chehab graduated Stanford Medical School and specializes in pediatrics. She got a masters in public health from Columbia, and runs a program dealing with adolescent obesity. Through that work, she became a Presidential Leadership Scholar this year. Our son Jeffrey graduated Cornell and got a Marshall Scholarship to Oxford, where he became interested in journalism. He first worked for the St. Pete Times, then the LA Times and now the New York Times, where he is the South Asia Bureau Chief. He was embedded with our forces during the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars. He was the NY Times East Africa Bureau Chief for 11 years, and won a Pulitzer Prize for his work in East Africa.

When I was inducted as a federal judge, I remarked that until that day I always believed I would be best remembered for the accomplishments of my children, and still felt that way. I have been a "senior" judge for the past ten years, but maintain a full calendar of civil and criminal cases. It is because of my commitment to that work, as well as a teaching commitment I have as an adjunct law professor at Northwestern, that I am unable to be with you all on the occasion of inducting me into the Miami Beach High School Hall of Fame. I am humbled and grateful for that honor, and wish to thank my brother Larry for nominating me.

I am lucky to be a part of dynamic Miami Beach. I was born and raised here. My family boasts three generations in this community. My father, Bart, graduated from Beach High in 1951. Then my Sister, brother and I graduated Beach High in 1976, 1979, and 1981. My son, Alec, and my daughter, Lauren, graduated in 2015 and 2017, and they received top notch educations through the International Baccalaureate program. Alec recently graduated from the Wharton School of Business and relocated to New York for an exciting new job. Lauren is a junior at the University of Florida. My strong ties and appreciation of the community have motivated me to be involved and give back to the Miami Beach Community.

Two organizations have been close to my heart; these are Mt. Sinai Medical Center and the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce. I have held and continue to be in leadership roles at both of these organizations. I was born at Mount Sinai and my two kids were born there too. I'm a Founder at Mt. Sinai Medical Center and I served as Chairman of the Young President's Club from 2003-2005. The Foundation, as the philanthropic arm of the Medical Center, raised funds to support the Medical Center. Mount Sinai is one of the largest, not for profit teaching hospitals, and is the largest employer in the City of Miami Beach. Mount Sinai is an important and historical part of the Miami Beach Community and I was proud to contribute to their success.

I started my banking career on Miami Beach nearly thirty years ago and became active with the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce at that time. I served as Treasurer, held a leadership role on the Building Committee to raise funds to build a new Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce building. I also served as Chairman of the Pillar Trustee Board, during a time when the Education Foundation provided college scholarships to graduating Beach High Students. In 2013, I became Chairman of the Board, and I served as Chairman until 2016. Under my Chairmanship we started the Links project which funds teacher grants to Miami Beach Sr. High School and the feeder pattern schools. I was very proud and honored by the time and positions that I served the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce.

While I was Chairman of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce, I was also appointed Chairman of the City of Miami Beach Convention Center Advisory Board, during the $625MM renovation of the Convention Center. I was involved through the Chamber in getting a 1% increase on the resort tax, which helped to fund the dollars needed for the renovation in 2012. I spearheaded the referendum item to help get 60% of the votes needed to allow a convention center hotel to be built adjacent to the Convention Center, which will be extremely important to help attract the quality conventions we used to get to come back. The convention center is one of the major economic drivers in the City of Miami Beach. I still currently sit on this board.

Cantor Rachelle Nelson is a long-time and beloved spiritual leader in one of the largest congregations in Miami. Recognized as a pioneer, paving the way for women cantors everywhere, Cantor Nelson also has made her mark on the world internationally as a published musician with her original music known and played worldwide. She graduated Cum Laude from University of Miami School of Music, with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education and Theory/Composition, 1979 and Hebrew Union College School of Sacred Music and Honorary Doctorate 2009.

As the first female cantor to graduate from the Hebrew Union College School of Sacred Music, she became the first female Cantor to serve the South Florida area when she began her career as Cantor at Temple Israel. She has served Temple Beth Am, Pinecrest, Florida, since 1991. After years of giving sermons, facilitating too many to count lifecycle events and teaching at the Temple Beth Am's day school, Cantor Nelson received her ordination from the Rabbinical Academy. She also has taught Jewish Music history at the University of Miami.

Over the years, Cantor Nelson has made a lasting impact on both women cantors and all congregants, bringing together women and men of all faiths and races through music. In 2006, she began the Interfaith Choir, in which she conducted and directed, in an attempt to bring the entire community, Jews and non-Jews alike, together. Her goal was to join all races and colors together because "music has magical powers and the ability to speak one language to all people," according to Cantor Nelson. The choir continues to make its magic with music today, many years later. Then, in 2008, she started her second choir, which consisted of a variety of cantors and singers of different denominations from throughout South Florida. This time, she reached for yet another goal, creating a bond between all different cantors, whether Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, or Reconstructionist. She firmly believed that temples should not see themselves as individual synagogues, but rather one large Jewish community.

As a composer and Cantorial musician, Cantor Nelson's original music is known and played internationally. She has published three CDs and scores of songbooks and sheet music, for which she created and composed all the melodies. Her music is performed in nearly every Reform synagogue in the United States, as well as many in Europe and Israel. She is nationally recognized and asked to perform at Jewish conventions throughout the United States nearly every year, and receives emails about her original music from fans around the world.

Cantor Nelson's honors are many. Cantor Nelson was honored by the American Committee for the Weizmann Institute of Science, one of the world's leading multidisciplinary research centers, as a Woman of Valor in 2005 for her outstanding role in breaking barriers between men and women in religion and in the community. In 2008, Cantor Nelson was featured in the University of Miami's alumni magazine in the article "Cut from a Different Cloth," and in 2010 Cantor Nelson was honored by the Jewish Museum of Florida with its Glass Ceiling Award.

Stan Schwartz is exceptional because the theme of his life has been to ask the question "what is needed" and dedicate himself to providing the answer. Stanley's answers have led to success and excellence in entrepreneurship, philanthropy, and service to his community, school, and university.

The University of Florida College of Journalism and Communication (CJC) conferred the degree of bachelor's in advertising on Stan in 1962. After a lifetime of subsequent accomplishments, the University presented Stanley with the "Distinguished Alumnus Award" for his service to the University and community in December 2018. When the President of the University Dr. W. Kent Fuchs contacted Stanley about the award, he stressed that "the Distinguished Alumnus" is a very rare accolade awarded by the University.

Stanley began his entrepreneurial career in 1972 with the publication of Tennis Industry, his first magazine (the first-of-its-kind trade magazine). This was followed by publication of six other trade publications. Tennis Industry gave rise to the Tennis Industry National Buyers Show. Impressed with the management and organization of the tennis show, the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) retained Stanley's organization to produce the Super Show, an entity that consolidated the entire sporting products industry in a single trade show. The Super Show went on to become the largest trade show in the world with two million square feet of exhibition space and over 5,000 exhibitors.

Stanley's entrepreneurial skills remain active even today with the "Big Pitch," a vehicle designed to advise companies and entrepreneurs on the presentation of and marketing of their products. Recognizing the University's influence on their lives, Stanley and his wife Barbara have established perpetual scholarship programs at the University of Florida (College of Journalism and Communications) and at Ohio State University (College of Education).

Stanley has both donated to and labored personally for the Miami Children's Initiative (MCI), a Miami organization dedicated to providing educational excellence for inner city children. Stanley's production of events to involve the community with MCI has both raised significant donations and increased recognition of MCI in the community. Stanley J. Schwartz is a natural leader and organizer. He has held that role in the Class of 1958 for at least eleven years. His labor of love for Miami Beach Senior High School and the Class has inspired participation and attendance well beyond expectations. Stanley spearheaded an effort by the Class of 58 to contribute to the redevelopment of the old Beach High (now Fisher-Feinberg K-8 Center) patio that contains the statue of "The Soldier" commemorating WWII alumni veterans. The redeveloped area will provide a space for all the students, particularly the many special needs children at the school, to recess and recharge, enhancing their educational experience.

Laurie S. Silvers practiced law in South Florida for over 10 years before starting her career as a media entrepreneur. Ms. Silvers was the Co-Founder of the SyFy Channel, which she sold to USA Network and which is now owned by Comcast. She is the Co-CEO of Hollywood.com, a leading celebrity news and entertainment information provider. She is also a Founder and Co-owner of eSports Holdco, a global eSports organization which owns the Misfits which play in the League of Legends in the EU and the Florida Mayhem in the Overwatch League (in partnership with the Miami Heat). Silvers is also an owner of Treasure and Space Coast Broadcasting Group which operates five FM radio stations in Florida's Treasure Coast. MovieTickets.com, which Silvers co-founded, was instrumental in creating online movie ticketing as a sustainable business model, thus changing the buying habits of moviegoers everywhere.

Silvers has also made significant contributions through her civic and philanthropic efforts. As a member of the University of Miami Board of Trustees and Chair of the UM Investments Committee she oversees the University endowment and directs its investments policies. Silvers is also co-founder and Board member of The Promise Fund which provides grants to fund medical navigators, education initiatives and medical research for women with breast and cervical cancer. She is also the co-founder of a lunch and learn program, Seeding to Action, in Palm Beach County which provides lectures by recognized experts on topics as diverse as Successful Aging, Managing your Financial Future and Staying Safe in an Unsafe World.

Ms. Silvers recently served as Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach and Chair of its Development Committee; she now serves as a Life Trustee. Silvers is the Immediate Past Co-Chair of South Florida PBS, the Public Broadcasting station for South Florida, and she is former Chair of Channel 2, WPBT, the Miami PBS station. She also serves on the national PBS Foundation Board in Washington, DC. She is a member of the Board of the United Way of Palm Beach and a Past Chair of the Economic Council of Palm Beach County. She is also a Volunteer Mentor with the "Women of Tomorrow" program which mentors at-risk high school girls and served as a Member of their National Board. She was a recent recipient of the Women of Tomorrow Empowerment award.