Gary Mokotoff, a pioneering figure in the Jewish Genealogy world, has died. He passed away on August 31, aged 88.
Mokotoff was involved in Jewish genealogy for decades. He authored many books and articles and was the longtime publisher of journal Avotaynu: The International Review of Jewish Genealogy.
He served in a leadership role in a number of genealogy and Jewish genealogy bodies and was the Founding President of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) from 1989 to 1995, In 1998 he was the first recipient of the IAJGS Lifetime Achievement Award.
Other awards included the Grahame T. Smallwood Award of the Association of Professional Genealogists and the Rabbi Malcolm H. Stern Humanitarian Award of the Federation of Genealogical Societies.
Among his many publications, Mokotoff was the co-author of Where Once We Walked: A Guide to the Jewish Communities Destroyed in the Holocaust (Teaneck, N.J.: Avotaynu, 1991; Revised edition, 2002), a gazetteer of some 23,500 town in central and eastern Europe where Jews lived prior to the Holocaust. The book was named “Outstanding Reference Book of the Year” for 1991 by the Association of Jewish Librarians.
With a professional background in computer software, he was instrumental in developing digital resources and applications for genealogy.
“Gary was a central figure in the history of IAJGS with many firsts attached to his name,” Susan Weinberg, the current IAJGS President, said in a statement. “Gary’s enthusiasm for Jewish genealogy coupled with his technical skills as a computer software pioneer led to the creation of many genealogical innovations such as JewishGen’s Family Finder and the Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex system.”
May his soul be bound up in the bond of life!