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Israel Bonds Head Retires After 40 Years
L OCA L
TOBY TABACHNICK | JE FEATURE
REMEMBER THAT STORY
about how a young Lana
Turner, sipping a Coke in a
malt shop, was discovered by
a Hollywood reporter, leading
to an iconic career in film?
Harold Marcus has a similar
story. In 1981, when Marcus was
a 30-year-old father of two, he
lost his job after a reorgani-
zation at the private finance
firm where he worked. One
day, as he was eating break-
fast alone in Pittsburgh, in
walked Bill Cohen, then Israel
Bonds’ executive director in
Pennsylvania. Cohen came over
to say hello, having recently
met Marcus at a birthday party
for Cohen’s grandson.

He asked Marcus what he
did for a living, and Marcus
said he was looking for work.

The rest, as they say, is history.

“I came to Bonds by
accident,” said Marcus, who
will be retiring after 40 years
working for Israel Bonds in
Pennsylvania. “It was a total
change of career path.”
After graduating from
the University of Pittsburgh,
Marcus began his working life
as a copy editor and proof-
reader for American Institutes
for Research. The company
eventually closed its Pittsburgh
office and relocated its opera-
tion to California, but Marcus
did not want to move his family
west, so he took the aforemen-
tioned job in finance.

In 1981, when he met
Cohen, Marcus had never even
heard of Israel Bonds. But after
Cohen explained to him the
mission of the organization
— helping to build the Jewish
state’s economy through
investments — Marcus was
certain it was something he
could do, and do well.

He was right.

In the 40 years Marcus
worked for Israel Bonds —
the first 30 in Pittsburgh as a
sales representative, the next
10 in Philadelphia as executive
director of the Pennsylvania
region — he was responsible
for securing significant invest-
ments in Israel, including
more than $300 million that
stemmed from a chutzpadik
letter he wrote to Warren
Buffett in 2015.

When one of Israel Bonds’
longtime investors — an insur-
ance company acquired by
Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway
— declined to reinvest as one of
its sizable bonds was maturing,
Marcus wrote to Buffett and
asked for an opportunity to
present his case.

“A week later, there was a
message on my phone,” Marcus
said then. “The message said,
‘This is Warren Buffett. I got
your letter.’ It took me 10
minutes to get my jaw off the
floor.” That letter led to a series
of events for Israel Bonds
supported by Buffett, begin-
ning with a dinner in Omaha
in 2016 at which $60 million
of bonds were sold — with
Buffet buying $5 million worth
on his own. Buffet enjoyed the
event so much that he agreed to
participate in three more.

“To say that was the
highlight of my career, it was
— in one regard,” Marcus said,
but was quick to add appre-
ciation for the “amazing lay
leaders and investors” he
worked with over the years.

“When I say ‘investor,’ it
doesn’t matter whether they’re
investing $36 or $2 million
— we have some of the most
incredible clients with the
highest Zionist ideals,” Marcus
said. As a brokerage, Israel Bonds
is nonpolitical, and has clients
that span the gamut, “from the
extreme right and the extreme
left when it comes to Israel,”
he said. “However, they all
believe in one thing: You can’t
not support the state of Israel,
no matter which end of the
spectrum you’re on.”
Marcus grew up in the
Pittsburgh area and met his
late wife, Maxine Cohen, when
they were 15. They married
at 20 and were members of
Temple Sinai, where Marcus
taught religious school for 45
years. Maxine Marcus died a
few weeks shy of their 37th
anniversary. In 2011, Marcus was
promoted from sales rep to
regional director of Israel
Bonds’ Pennsylvania Region.

He married Maureen Wander
Miller the same year, and they
moved to Philadelphia, where
the regional office is located.

Marcus, 71, is a Pittsburgher
at heart, but has decided to
stay in Philadelphia in his
retirement. His last day at Israel Bonds
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Harold and Maureen Marcus
Courtesy of Harold Marcus
will be Nov. 3.

His successor will be Ari
Sirner, whom Marcus hired in
2018 as an Israel Bonds sales
rep in Philadelphia. Sirner left
last summer to work for the
Jewish Federation of Greater
Atlanta, but got in touch with
Israel Bonds and expressed
interest in the job when he
heard Marcus’ position would
be available.

“He knows the organi-
zation. He knows how we
operate,” Marcus said of Sirner.

“As a successor, he will come in
and assess the campaign and
keep what he wants to keep
and change when he wants to
change. But I’ve no doubt he
will do an excellent job.”
Looking back, Marcus
marvels at the longevity of his
career with Israel Bonds.

“If you would have told me,
June 1, 1981, when I started that
over 40 years from that day, I’d
be retiring from this organiza-
tion, I would have said, ‘You’re
crazy.’ Looking back, you
wonder where have 40 years
gone. But I can honestly say
there’s never been a day since
June 1 of ‘81, that I’ve opened
my eyes in the morning and
said, ‘Do I really have to go to
work today?’ Yeah, I’m very
fortunate.” l
Toby Tabachnick is the editor of the
Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.

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