Jack Kliger, president and CEO of The Museum of Jewish Heritage, released a statement honoring the life and legacy of Roman Kent, a Holocaust survivor:
“Today we mourn the passing of Roman Kent, a beloved and accomplished member of the survivor community, deeply committed to Holocaust education and related philanthropic causes, and to bearing witness.
A graduate of Emory University in Atlanta and successful businessman in the import-export trade, Roman was integral to the founding and development of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, where he served on the Board of Directors and Leadership Council. He also served as chairman of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and as president of The Jewish Foundation for the Righteous, which provides aid to, and preserves the legacy of, elderly, non-Jewish rescuers of Jews in the Holocaust.
Born in Lodz, Poland in 1929, Roman and his family were forced to relocate to the Lodz Ghetto, where his father died, then to Auschwitz-Birkenau, where his mother died and where Roman and his brother were separated from their sisters. He immigrated to the United States with his brother through a resettlement program for orphans in 1946.
On the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2016, Roman shared this thought with UNESCO: ‘Now, if I had the power, I would issue an Eleventh Commandment to the world which would be “Do not be a bystander.” It was indifference and the silence of people which led to the Holocaust. I would tell people not to turn away, to say something.’
We remember his wife, Hannah Kent, who passed in 2018, and extend our heartfelt condolences to their children, Susan Kent Avjian and Jeffrey Kent, their three grandchildren, Sean Avjian, Dara Avjian, and Eryn Roberts, and their great granddaughter Hannah Leona Avjian Roberts.
May his memory be a blessing, and may our continued work help fully realize his vision.”
