Jay Feinberg

Jay Feinberg (b. August 1968 in New York) is a leukemia survivor and is the founder and current director of the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation.

Feinberg was a 22-year-old foreign-exchange analyst for the Federal Reserve in New York in 1991 when he was diagnosed with leukemia and told that a bone marrow transplant was his only hope. A match was not found in Mr. Feinberg’s immediate family, so his friends and relatives widened their search among Ashkenazi Jews. Feinberg's plight, along with that of Mario Cooper, a graphic design artist, and Erskine Henderson, an attorney at Skadden Arps, was featured in a New York Times article, dated December 16, 1991. [http://query.nytimes.com/beta/search/query?=a+day+of+hope+for+those+dying+from+leukemia&submit.x=16&submit.y=11&submit=sub Day of Hope for Those Dying of Leukemia]

Massive screenings were organized in Jewish communities throughout North America and Israel. By 1995, more than 55,000 people had been tested. Feinberg’s condition was rapidly deteriorating and only a partial match had been found. A friend in Milwaukee organized one last drive and teenager Becky Faibisoff, the last person tested, was a match. Ms. Faibisoff, whose marrow saved Feinberg’s life, now lives in Riverdale and teaches at SAR Academy.

Feinberg’s experience led him to devote his life to educating and encouraging people to add themselves to bone marrow registries around the world. The Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation, the Florida-based organization of which he is founder and executive director, seeks to increase the number of registered Jews, many of whom lack extended family because of the Holocaust.

In 2004, Feinberg was awarded the [http://www.thecharlesbronfmanprize.com Charles Bronfman Prize] for his dedication to the fight against leukemia and his service to the Jewish community. In 2005, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by [http://spider.mc.yu.edu/news/articles/article.cfm?id=101083 Yeshiva University] , along with Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Mario Cooper found a bone marrow match but died from complications caused by the bone marrow transplantation. Erskine Hendersonnever found a match.

Trivia

*Feinberg graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dickinson College in 1990 with a major in political science
*An honorary brother of Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity
*Inaugural recipient of the Charles Bronfman Prize
*Inaugural recipient of the National Marrow Donor Program's Allison Atlas Award
*Established the very first bone marrow registry and cord blood bank dedicated to recruitment in the Jewish community

External links

* [http://www.giftoflife.org/index.html Gift of Life Bone Marrow Foundation]
* [http://www.giftoflife.org/about/112.html Videos about Gift of Life and Jay Feinberg]
* [http://spider.mc.yu.edu/news/articles/article.cfm?id=101083 Yeshiva University Honorary Doctorate]
* [http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/20940/edition_id/431/format/html/displaystory.html 1995 Article detailing Jay's fight with Leukemia]
* [http://www.hadassahinternational.org/default.asp?section=ac&Subsection=pc&BegOrder=31 Hadassah International World Citizen Award]
* [http://www.marrow.org/ABOUT/NMDP_Awards/Allison_Atlas_Award/index.html National Marrow Donor Program Allison Atlas Award]
* [http://www.thecharlesbronfmanprize.com Inaugural recipient of the Charles Bronfman Prize]