“Getting Started in Genealogy” will be the topic of an illustrated presentation by Dr. Nathan M. Reiss at the next meeting of the Genealogy Club of Central Jersey (GCCJ), Thursday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m. The presentation, which is free and open to the public, will take place at Congregation Ahavas Achim, 216 South First Avenue, Highland Park.
The Genealogy Club is sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of Central Jersey, which is headquartered in New Brunswick. Organized in 1977, the JHSCJ mission is to promote, research, and publish all facets of Central New Jersey’s Jewish experience.
Dr. Reiss, a resident of Highland Park, has studied genealogy for nearly four decades. He has found over 12,000 relatives and published a 1,100-page book on his own family history. In 1997, he became chair of the Genealogy Committee of the Jewish Historical Society of Central Jersey, in 2002 he was elected vice president, and from 2003 until the present he has served as president of the Jewish Historical Society. From 1996-2001 he also served as President of Congregation Etz Ahaim, a Sephardic congregation in Highland Park.
Holding a doctorate in meteorology, Dr. Reiss retired in 1997 as a professor in the departments of Meteorology and Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University and pursued his “retirement” career as a genealogist.