Locals reunite in Maryland

SAM CONVISSOR and Ruth Septee were reunited for the first time in over 50 years at the 2017 graduation ceremony of the Charles E. Smith Day School in Rockville, Md. Their grandchildren, Mollie Milchberg and Ethan Kahn, respectively, were classmates at the day school. Sam and Carole Convissor and Ruth and Moe Septee were friends many decades ago when the two couples lived in Newark and began to raise their families. But after Ruth and Moe moved to Philadelphia in 1964, they did not see each other again.

Together the husbands were involved in the Jewish community of Newark. For instance, in 1962, they were both captains of the Newark Y UJA Campaign.

Convissor moved to South Orange in 1967 and is a longtime member of Congregation Beth El there. Septee, a prominent theater producer and founder of the Philly Pops Orchestra, was a Polish immigrant who was on his way to becoming a rabbi when he opted for show business instead, thanks to an early gig with the Jewish Theological Seminary’s radio program “The Eternal Light.” Septee died in 1997. Ruth still lives in Philadelphia, where she sits on the board of the Jewish Publication Society. 

Sam Convissor, a retired public affairs advisor, remains tied to the city of Newark. He is a board member of the Greater Newark Conservancy and leads bus tours of Jewish Newark. Over the years, he’s sat on the board of Congregation Beth El, has been involved with the Greater MetroWest Jewish Community Relations Committee, and was a founding member of the Jewish Historical Society of MetroWest. His wife, Carole, died in 2000. 

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“Ruth sends her best to the Greater MetroWest community,” said Convissor.