Kerin Lieberman, ‘backbone of the BJE,’ dies of cancer

Kerin Lieberman insisted on a weekly quota of hugs.

This warmth was equally matched by her toughness — a combination that made her one of the most loved and respected women ever to work at the S.F.-based Bureau of Jewish Education.

Kerin Lieberman

“Kerin was like the Israeli sabra — she could be very tough, but beneath that toughness was an incredibly soft, warm and generous soul,” said David Waksburg, director of the BJE. “This played out in a dogged and persistent focus on excellence for the work of BJE, and an equal devotion to supporting the people who did the work.”

Lieberman worked at the BJE for 34 years before retiring 11 months ago. She joined the staff in 1974 as an office manager, a job she found through Jewish Vocational Service.

She worked her way up to associate director in charge of finance, business systems and administration. In that leadership role, she helped launch the Feast of Jewish Learning and the Phantom Ball, the agency’s signature fundraising event. She also helped grow the bureau’s financial aid program from just $12,000 for overnight camp to $250,000 for campers,  day school and college students.

“Kerin was the backbone of the bureau,” said Bill Lowenberg, a past president of the BJE. “She is definitely responsible for the bureau’s success and to the services it gives to our community.”

Debbie Findling, who worked with Lieberman for seven years, described her as an unparalleled mentor who taught people how to create effective and meaningful Jewish programming.

“She taught me that if we instill business practices into Jewish education and programming, we don’t diminish them, we elevate them,” said Findling, who now works at the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund. “That’s something I carry with me to this day.”

Lieberman was born in Holland at the end of World War II. Her father worked for the Jewish resistance movement and used the bottom of her baby carriage to hide and transport rifles. The family fled to New Zealand before settling in New York.

Despite those childhood hardships, Lieberman had “an amazing sense of humor,” said Bob Sherman, former director at the BJE.

Colleagues recalled that she could make them laugh so hard they cried, that she always had a large jar of jelly beans and a basket of finger puppets in her office, and that she wore funky jewelry and colorful clothing.

Lieberman was diagnosed with cancer in 2007. She worked throughout her first round of chemotherapy, and colleagues wore supportive buttons, handmade by her daughter, that read, “F— cancer” and “Cancer sucks.”

When the cancer returned a year later, Lieberman decided it was time to retire. The decision was a difficult one.

“Yes, I was a wife and mother, but the BJE also was my identity,” she told j. in 2008. “These people have been as close to me as family.”

Likewise, Lieberman was like family to her colleagues as well. The BJE turned their annual staff lunch, planned for June 11, into a memorial for their colleague.

“Kerin was demanding, stern and had enormous integrity, but she was also warm, loving, giving and generous,” Findling said. “I’ve never worked with anyone who could balance those conflicting things and hold them all to be equally true in a perfect balance.”

Lieberman is survived by daughters Moxie and Rachel Lieberman. Her husband, Eugene, died in 2006.

A funeral service was scheduled for 11 a.m. Friday, June 12 at Mount Tamalpais Cemetery in San Rafael. Donations can be made in Lieberman’s memory to Congregation Kol Shofar, P.O. Box 970, Mill Valley, CA 94942, or to the BJE Jewish Community Library, 1835 Ellis St., San Francisco, CA 94115.