Meet the BMAR Member - Marilyn Sopher

Marilyn Sopher has 40 years membership in the Bronx Board of Realtors - now known as Bronx-Manhattan North Association of Realtors, Inc. Sopher runs one of the largest commercial property ownership companies along with an active Riverdale real estate brokerage firm. Sopher has played a major role in the development of Riverdale's Jewish community and its institutions and she received honors for that role. A licensed real estate and insurance broker, she has used the resources of her prominent realty firm to spur the growth of this community. Nearly every Riverdale synagogue has benefited from her helping hand, and from that of her late husband, Morris z"1. As benefactors of the Young Israel Ohab Zedek in North Riverdale, Marilyn and Morris Sopher enabled the congregation to obtain its Riverdale Ave. building, an edifice which now bears their name. She is currently an active board member. Morris was also a founder, two decades earlier, of the Young Israel of Riverdale. Both of them helped the Conservative Synagogue in its merger with Adath Israel, which facilitated the construction of its present home. The Sophers also donated the Youth Lounge at the Riverdale Jewish Center and have made substantial contributions to the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. Sopher's particular labor of love has been her devotion to P'tach, which assists learning disabled Jewish children. A member of P'tach's Board and a previous honoree at its dinner, she has sought to ensure that programs for children with learning difficulties are available at all yeshivas. As a board member of SAR Academy, and a former honoree, she has been a promoter and benefactor of the school, but also a voice to ensure that it developed a resource center to assist the challenged student. Most recently, she has donated the running track at the new S/A/R High School in Riverdale to be named in memory of her late husband, Morris, who was an athlete and marathon runner and an active realtor both as an owner and as a broker. As a benefactor of the Hillel Houses at Boston University and Columbia University, Marilyn Sopher has made her mark on higher education as well in addition to having been honored by the Nishmat School in Israel for education of underprivileged youngsters. She has initiated an endowment fund for Jewish education at the Riverdale YM-YWHA, initiated and sponsored the Y's 5K Run and Walk to Cure Cystic Fibrosis, and she had served on the ethics committee of the Bronx-Manhattan Association of Realtors. Currently, she is most intensely involved with the Migdal Ohr network of educational and social institutions in Israel (and Russia). As a Board Member and an honoree at the Migdal Ohr dinner, she continues the amazingly wide-ranging philanthropic and inspirational role which she forged with her late husband. She is a contributor to the Riverdale Neighborhood House and to Wave Hill in Riverdale. She was also honored by the Riverdale Jewish Community Council. A native of the East Bronx, Marilyn Sopher has been a powerhouse of energy, drive and commitment, benefiting both Riverdale and world-wide Jewish causes for nearly four decades. Marilyn Sopher is a board member and an active member and supporter of the Chabad of Riverdale, and its first honoree.