The Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia has been renamed following the conclusion of its $9.5 million capital campaign. It will be the Pozez Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia, after donors Norman Pozez and Melinda Bieber, the center announced May 30.
The center did not release the exact figure of the contribution at Pozez’s request, Executive Director Jeff Dannick said, adding that the gift was the largest the center has received.
“For us, it’s a very significant gift,” he said.
In March, the center announced that Pozez and Bieber had donated more than $300,000 to the capital campaign.
The money from the capital campaign will go toward construction of the Smith-Kogod Arts Center and renovations on the property, as well as expanding community outreach initiatives, including the j.family ambassadors program, Dannick said.
Pozez is the chairman and CEO of Uniwest, a real estate development and property management company based in Falls Church. He and Bieber live in the Kalorama neighborhood in the District, according to a 2016 article in Washingtonian.
Pozez became chairman of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington’s strategic planning committee, after a demographic survey found that Northern Virginia had a higher Jewish population than the Maryland suburbs or the District.
“With this endorsement, I hope it will be a motivation in the community to invest more attention and energy and resources into the large and growing Jewish community within Northern Virginia,” Dannick said. “It’s just another indication the Northern Virginia Jewish community is extremely important and worthy of investment and support.”
“My family’s gift is a strategic investment, and one that I hope inspires others to follow suit,” Pozez said in a statement.
Pozez did not respond to requests for comment.
With the name change, all three area Jewish community centers have been rebranded with donors’ names. The Bender Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington was renamed in 2016, after receiving a gift of $6.25 million. In 2015, a $6.5 million gift led to the naming of the Edlavitch DC Jewish Community Center.
