Volunteer Spotlight on: Jack Light
In honor of National Volunteer Week, I would like to thank all of our JMM volunteers. Now, as I do once a month, I’d like to highlight one volunteer in particular…
Jack Light was a captain in the Korean War who served on the front lines as a dentist. He received his B.S. and D.D.S. at Indiana University, plus an M.S. in Cancer Prosthetics dentistry from NYU and an M.P.H. Johns Hopkins University. He practiced dentistry in NYC prior to moving to the Washington, DC area with his wife, a writer and nutrition educator who was offered a job on Capitol Hill. While in the DC area, Jack had a dental practice in Bethesda plus worked at Howard University on the Cancer Rehabilitation team. He also served as the director of an East Baltimore Medical Plan.
He has always loved art and music. In his spare time he paints with oils and acrylics and plays guitar and banjo. He used to study guitar with a Yiddish folk singer. He volunteered as a docent at the Hirshhorn Museum for 15 years and always believed that museums should be fun. He took care to know what level of interest and knowledge his visitors possessed and would break down and relate the contemporary art collection to them. He personally collects Nepalese, Tibetan, and Indian Art. He also collects European Choir music manuscripts from Italy, France and Spain. He volunteered at Arena Stage and Wolf Trap for 20 years. He currently volunteers at the Walters Art Museum in addition to the JMM.
Jack admits that he lives a much diversified life. He has two daughters, one in NYC who is in product development for L’Oreal and the other who lives outside of Seattle and is an artist and writer. He moved to Baltimore two years ago when his wife passed away. He enjoys spending time as a Front Desk Receptionist at the JMM as it offers him a chance to speak with all kinds of people. He especially enjoyed meeting a visitor from New York who had some similar childhood experiences to his own.
A blog post by Volunteer Coordinator Ilene Cohen. The first Monday(ish) of every month she will be highlighting one of our fantastic JMM volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering with the JMM, drop her an email at icohen@jewishmuseummd.org or call 410-732-6402 x217! You can also get more information about volunteering at the Museum here.