Florida Atlantic University recently announced a $500,000 gift from benefactors Marta and Jim Batmasian to name the Marta and Jim Batmasian Memorial Pavilion as part of the future Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Holocaust and Jewish Studies Building.

Florida Atlantic University recently announced a $500,000 gift from benefactors Marta and Jim Batmasian to name the Marta and Jim Batmasian Memorial Pavilion as part of the future Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Holocaust and Jewish Studies Building.

The Batmasian Memorial Pavilion will be a featured outdoor focal point adjacent to the Wallach building, and will offer a serene and easily accessible location for quiet reflection, outdoor receptions or as a gathering site.

A plaque also will be installed within the pavilion to recognize the 1.5 million Armenians – including some of Marta and Jim’s family members – who were massacred between 1915 and 1923 in the Armenian genocide. The Wallach Holocaust and Jewish Studies Building will also serve as an epicenter for Holocaust and Jewish studies, while memorializing the 6 million Jews and other victims of the Holocaust.

“We are grateful for this opportunity to give back to a cause that is near to our hearts,” said Marta Batmasian. “The Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Holocaust and Jewish Studies Building will be a venue for not only Holocaust studies, but it will also set the stage to prevent future genocides and massacres, like the first genocide of the 20^th century when we lost 1.5 million Armenians in 1915.”

The Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Holocaust and Jewish Studies Building will bring together Holocaust education, Jewish studies and other programs related to diplomacy and leadership. Distinctive areas of the building will also include the Craig and Barbara Weiner Holocaust Museum of South Florida at Florida Atlantic, a recital/lecture hall, a traveling exhibition hall, the George and Irina Schaeffer Dimensions in Testimony digital display, the Marilyn and Jay Weinberg Grand Lobby, the Arthur and Emalie Gutterman Family Tree of Life Entrance and Memorial Garden, state-of-the-art classrooms and more.

“We remain grateful to Marta and Jim for their continued generosity to the college and university,” said Michael Horswell, Ph.D., dean of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. “We are proud to be able to honor the memory of those lost during the Armenian genocide, which is so deeply personal to both Marta and Jim, as part of the Batmasian Memorial Pavilion. Our vision is to have the Wallach building use history’s lessons to combat ignorance, fear and distrust that breeds hatred and violence, including keeping the memory of the Armenian genocide alive through education.”            

For anyone interested in learning more about the Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Building, including naming opportunities, contact Laurie Carney at 561-297-3606 or Lcarney@fau.edu.

-FAU-