“Height of chutzpah?” Board approved Merkin as chairman.
by Staff Report
J. Ezra Merkin, the hedge fund operator being sued for negligence by several investors who discovered their money with him had been lost in Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, may appear disgraced in some segments of the community — but not, apparently, at the tony Fifth Avenue Synagogue.
Even after the scandal came to light last December, along with Merkin’s involvement in investing funds with Madoff — allegedly without the knowledge of some investors, including Yeshiva University — the scion of a prominent Modern Orthodox family remained in his lay post as president of the board of the synagogue his late father, Hermann, helped found.
And come May 20, Merkin is slated to become chairman, already approved by the board of the synagogue, where
businessman and philanthropist Ira Rennert now serves in that post.
Rennert is set to become honorary chairman, along with Nobel Peace Laureate Elie Wiesel, who lost most of the funds in his humanitarian foundation, as well as his personal savings, after investing with Madoff. Merkin’s wife, Lauren, highly respected for her philanthropic work in the community, is slated to become secretary of the board.
At least some synagogue members are upset with her husband, with one telling The Jewish Week it was “the height of chutzpah” for Merkin to seek to stay on as a leader of the synagogue. The member, who asked not to be quoted by name, charged that it was “a sign of arrogance,” and of Merkin “putting himself before the synagogue, which already has a black eye” from the Madoff episode. But Merkin and Rennert are believed to be the primary benefactors of the synagogue, on East 62nd Street, and few are willing to oppose them.
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