Georgia Loses Two Important Community Leaders

Georgia’s Jewish community lost two longtime leaders, both of whom devoted themselves with a seemingly endless reservoir of energy to others.

Perry Brickman, DDS, was most known by the general public for the years of research he undertook to uncover a history of virulent antisemitism at Emory University Dental School during 1948-1961.

He had, himself, been dismissed by the dental school in 1952 in his second year of studies without being given any reason. He subsequently applied to the University of Tennessee in Memphis where he graduated fourth in his class in 1956 with high honors and went on to train as an oral surgeon.

Get The AJT Newsletter by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up

He was a founding member and president of the Georgia Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons and Chief of Oral Surgery at several Atlanta-area hospitals, and a founding member of Northside Hospital, West Paces Ferry Hospital, and Decatur Hospital. In 1994, Gov. Zell Miller appointed Dr. Brickman to the Georgia State Board of Dentistry where he served for seven years. He was the first dentist to receive the 1992 Dekalb County Medical Society Julius McCurdy Award for outstanding community service by a DeKalb County physician.

Two years after retiring from 42 years of practice, while he attended a 2006 celebration of Emory’s Judaic Studies program, he made the surprise discovery that one of the professors in the program, Eric Goldstein, had found that 65 percent of the Jewish dental students at Emory from 1948-1958 had been flunked or made to repeat years but they had remained publicly silent.

Dr. Perry Brickman uncovered a record of 10 years of antisemitism at Emory University Dental School.

Aided by work done decades before by the local head of the Anti-Defamation League, he spent the next six years researching and compiling video recordings of each of the students who had been forced out of the program. He subsequently edited the material into a documentary entitled, “From Silence To Recognition,” that showed that nearly half of the students in the dental program over the 10 years that he studied had been the victims of antisemitism.

In 2012, the president of Emory, James Wagner, issued a formal apology for the actions of the former dean of the school and several of its professors. That same year, Dr. Brickman received the 2012 Emory University Maker of History Award and, in 2016, was given the Emory Medal, the highest Emory alumni award for service and philanthropy. In 2020, he published his book, “Extracted: Unmasking Rampant Antisemitism in America’s Higher Education,” which documented the discrimination against Jewish students in dental schools around the country.

Dr. Brickman was an active member of the Jewish religious and civic community here. He was recognized with the Atlanta Jewish Federation’s 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award honoring his community commitment, which included president of the Atlanta Jewish Federation, board member of Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, Atlanta Jewish Academy (lifetime trustee), William Breman Jewish Home, Ben Massell Dental Clinic, AEPi (Chapter Advisor 1965-85), and Jewish Family & Career Services. He received the 2013 Anti-Defamation League’s First Centennial Champion Award and the 2013 State of Israel Bonds Atlanta Community Award.

Dr. Brickman is survived by his wife of nearly 70 years, Shirley, two daughters, a son. and six grandchildren. He was 92.

During the years Dr. Brickman was accomplishing so much in Atlanta, Ed Wexler was a community and business leader in Savannah.

Ed Wexler was a tireless community leader in Savannah.

Wexler was a tireless worker on behalf of the community throughout his lifetime there and during his earlier years in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York state. He served on the Jewish Federation’s Board of Governors in the Georgia coastal city for 10 years, and was general campaign chair of their annual appeal. He was also instrumental in founding the Rambam Jewish day school in Savannah and served on the board of directors and as president of congregation Agudath Achim Synagogue. He was the recipient of the lifetime of service award from the Savanah Jewish Federation and was given the Savanah community’s Golden Heart Award.

As his health declined, Wexler moved to Atlanta but remained active in leadership positions and served as a lay religious leader in several retirement communities here. He was predeceased by his wife of 43 years, Linda, two sons, a daughter and four grandchildren. He was 86.