From left are Judge Gerald Weinstein, his wife, Claire Weinstein, Dr. Yitzhak Sharon, and Stockton President Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr. Judge Gerald Weinstein, former longtime Board of Trustees member and Board Chair of The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, has pledged $100,000 to establish the Judge Gerald and Claire Weinstein Professorship in Jewish Studies.

The first professor to hold this title is Dr. Yitzhak Sharon, who has been a Stockton faculty member for 36 years and an integral contributor to the College's Jewish Studies program. Dr. Sharon also helped to develop Stockton's Sara and Sam Schoffer Holocaust Resource Center - one of the first facilities of its kind at a public institution in the United States, and has served as the longtime faculty advisor of the Hillel/Jewish Student Union.

"The College is deeply grateful and honored that Judge Weinstein has made such a commitment to the future of the College and its Jewish Studies program," Stockton President Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr. said. "It is particularly fitting that Dr. Yitzhak Sharon, who embodies the program and service to our students, would be appointed to serve as the inaugural Weinstein Professor in Jewish Studies."

The $100,000 gift will establish an endowed fund to support research and scholarship that will enable the professor to conduct important work in Jewish Studies. The College matches funds each year that are made available through the endowment, increasing the funds available for the Jewish Studies program.

Judge Weinstein served on the Board of Trustees for seven years, beginning in 1999. He was Board Chair in 2005 and 2006. In addition to his service on Stockton's governing body, Judge Weinstein was a longtime member of the Holocaust Resource Center Board.

"Judge Weinstein was a great trustee and continues to be a great friend of the College," Dr. Saatkamp said. "He always approached his duties with the same enthusiasm and dedication that served him so well as a New Jersey Superior Court Judge."

During Judge Weinstein's tenure, the College made significant advancements in academics, enrollment and facilities. He presided over the board at a time when the College was named among the top five public liberal arts colleges in the nation by U.S. News and World Report for two years and among the top six for another two years.

During his tenure Stockton built and opened the West Quad Academic Building, the F-Wing Expansion and Housing IV Apartments. He collaborated with President Saatkamp and the Board to adopt a Facilities Master Plan that will transform the campus by adding the College Center Building, the Unified Science Building, and a new 375-bed housing complex. Judge and Mrs. Weinstein reside in Margate.

Professor Sharon was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. He graduated from Yeshiva University High School in New York City. Professor Sharon received his A.B.degree from Columbia University and his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Princeton University. Before coming to Stockton in 1972, he taught at Northeastern University in Boston and at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Dr. Sharon has also been a Visiting Fellow at Princeton University and a Visiting Scholar at Rutgers University, where he collaborates in research in Nuclear Physics. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and of Sigma Xi.Dr. Sharon has been a Professor of Physics at Stockton since 1975 and has published extensively in professional journals. He has received grants from the National Science Foundation, the State of New Jersey, and the Center for Theology and Natural Science. He received a 2005 Award from the New Jersey Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers for his Lifetime Contributions to Physics Education. He resides in Kendall Park, N.J., with wife Sandra and daughter Dina.

"It's a special honor for me to be the initial recipient for this honor because it is named after Judge and Mrs. Weinstein who have done so much for the Jewish community and have been such outstanding leaders, and who have done so much for Stockton College," Dr. Sharon said. "This magnificent endowment will mean so much to our Jewish Studies program and its future. In the name of the Jewish Studies faculty led by Dr. Marcia Fieldler and the Dean of General Studies Dr. Jan Colijn, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to the Judge and his wife."