On April 15, I. Austin Heyman, of Bethesda, MD, passed away. Son of the late Irving A. Heyman and Madeleine Strauss Heyman Sliosberg. Beloved husband of the late Barbara (LeVine) Heyman. Devoted father of Stephen M. (Susan Steinman) and David F. (Victoria White) Heyman. Dedicated grandfather of Madeline, Henry and Miles Heyman. Dear brother of the late Marilyn Heilprin. Austin was born in 1931 in New York, NY. He graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and earned a Certificate from the Academy of International Law at the Hague and a Master’s Degree in International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. After law school, he served in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Ft. Sheridan outside Chicago, IL, where he met his future wife, Barbara. He returned to New York City to practice law before moving with Barbara to Washington, D.C., to join the U.S. government as part of President Kennedy’s Alliance for Progress. He served as the U.S. representative in Paris for the U.S. Agency for International Development on the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development. After 25 years of federal service, and at a time when his volunteer life and civic engagement in his local community advocating for and bringing younger and older people together became his calling, he founded Interages and served as its first executive director until 1997.
His community service included serving as the first chair of the Montgomery County Commission on Children and Youth, president of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs, member of the Maryland Task Force on Guidance and Counseling and founding board member and vice-chair of the Volunteer Partnership Montgomery. He initiated and chaired the Montgomery County Vital Living Steering Committee and twice served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging. He also served as moderator for two county cable television programs — “Seniors Today” and “Montgomery Citizens Agenda.” For his more than 50 years of service to Marylanders of all ages, he was awarded the AARP Maryland Lifetime Achievement Award. He earned many other honors, including the Award for Distinguished Service to Public Education from the Montgomery County Board of Education and the Montgomery County Paths of Achievement Award. He was inducted into the Montgomery County Human Rights Hall of Fame in 2008, and the Maryland Senior Citizens Hall of Fame in 2009. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the JCA Heyman Interages Center at the Jewish Council for the Aging of Greater Washington, 12320 Parklawn Drive, Rockville, MD 20852.
