California: San Francisco-area gen mavens

J. the Jewish News Weekly of Northern California devoted much of its "Faces" (August 10) column to Jewish genealogy in the Bay area.

Karen Roekard writes that Jewish genealogists abound in the Bay Area. Indeed, two recently won awards for their work. Stephen Morse, of San Francisco, whose calendar of speaking engagements includes Germany, Copenhagen and England (along with more mundane locales such as Livermore, Sacramento and Chicago) won the 2007 Award of Merit from the National Genealogy Society.

Roekard herself won a first-place award in the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors “Excellence in Writing” contest in the category “Want-to-be-Writer/Columnist” (“The only one open to me,” she joked). Her winning piece is being published in Avotaynu: The International Review of Jewish Genealogy. Roekard has translated the Yizkor book from the town of Belz, Ukraine, which includes a list of 7,500 people from the town who died in the Holocaust.

Also mentioned:
Rosanne Leeson (South Bay) - Alsace Lorraine and Romania.
Robin Magid (Kensington) - Lublin, Poland.
Vivian Kahn (East Bay) - Hungary.
Henry and Marcia Kaplan (South Bay) - Galicia.
Judy Baston (San Francisco) - Lithuania.
Ron Arons (East Bay) - Jewish criminals.
Jeremy Frankel (Berkeley) - president of the San Francisco Bay Jewish Genealogical Society (SFBJGS), with three branches.

Thank you, J., for spotlighting these individuals who contribute so much to our field!