CEO
“My grandmother had come over from Russia and gotten di-
vorced and raised three children,” Holman said. “I very much feel
that she is my spirit, my living spirit. She’s gotten me through a lot
of it. She can do it. I can do it.”
Holman started working for a marketing research company, a
new field at the time. She wrote questionnaires, did phone inter-
views, recruited people for focus groups and more. Then in 1971,
she started a company at home called Merle Holman Interviewing
Service, which grew to about 180 employees.

In 1971, she also met a man named Alex Bruckner. The two
never lived together, Holman said, but they shared 30 years of good
times until he was diagnosed with lung cancer and died in 2001.

After running her own business for seven years, Holman de-
cided she didn’t like working from home anymore and went to
work for a company in Center City.

One day, she came in and discovered she had been laid off,
so in 1981, she began working for herself once again. She started
another company, Group Dynamics In Focus.

She faced challenges that many today wouldn’t even consid-
er. She didn’t have the credit to take out a loan from a bank,
and said the Small Business Administration (SBA) rejected her
because she was a woman. In the end, her father and Bruckner
helped her with funding.

Holman opened a focus group facility. It was groundbreaking
work. Not a lot of other people were doing focus groups, and it
was the first such facility in Bala Cynwyd, she said. Bruckner set
Holmen photos provided
Continued from Page 7
Merle Holman volunteers at the reception desk for Golden
Slipper Gems.

DOWNSIZING? MOVING?
FIXED 2 MOVE PROVIDES THE HELP NEEDED TO SELL THE CONTENTS OF YOUR HOME
We facilitate your estate sale and We transition
facil itate your planning
estate sale and transition pla
CLEANOUTS ESTATE AND MOVING SALES
Empty your entire house
Sell items you no longer want
ESTATE & MOVING SALES
CLEANOUTS ORGANIZATION
REPAIRS CALL TODAY FOR YOUR FREE CONSULTATION
610 - 659 - 9091 or email us - soshea@fixed2move.com
8 DECEMBER 20, 2018
THE GOOD LIFE
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



her office up with some computers. She would invite people for a
focus group into a hotel room or into a home, while the client sat
in a different room and watched on a television.

Thirty-seven years later, the company is still going.

“I attribute my life to having decent health, friends and just fol-
lowing my own path because I had to,” Holman said. “It’s just luck.”
Four or five years ago, Holman’s role at the company began to
change. As her volunteer work began to take up more time, she
stepped back in her company role. Daughter Robin Kaplan now
runs it and serves as president.

Inspired by her mother, Kaplan also started volunteering about
a year ago with the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House.

“I saw how much she enjoyed it, how much she loved it, and
decided it was time for me to start being able to give back a
little bit,” Kaplan said. “It gets passed down. We all lead by her
example. We’ve all been very fortunate to have her here for all this
time and learn from what she has done.”
Kaplan’s been involved in the company since its beginning, she
said. Over the decades, the company has expanded in physical
size, as well as scope. It now interviews and surveys people across
the country.

“It was time,” Holman said. “She had put her time in, and I
was getting involved in a lot of nonprofits, which I’ve always been
involved in, but this was taking a lot more time.”
Over the years, she had gotten involved in Linda Creed Breast
Cancer Foundation, the Cancer Support Community, as well as
Act II Playhouse and Golden Slipper.

She volunteers at Golden Slipper Gems at Adath Israel on
You don’t have to grieve alone.

We know family matters above all,
and losing a loved one is the most difficult thing
you may experience. We also know everyone
grieves in their own unique way.

Our directors face grief and bereavement
every day and can provide you with resources,
because we understand how much it can hurt.

SEE CEO | Page 10
Goldsteins’ Rosenberg’s Raphael-Sacks INC .

Fol low The
Providing funeral counseling
and pre-need arrangements.

215-927-5800 • 1-800-622-6410
And Never Miss A Stor y!
For hearing impaired: 267-331-4243 (Sorenson VP)
P HILADELPHIA C HAPEL
Carl Goldstein, Supervisor
6410 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19126
www.jewishexponent.com #jewishinphilly
S UBURBAN N ORTH C HAPEL
Bruce Goldstein, Supervisor
310 2nd Street Pike, Southampton, PA 18966
facebook.com/jewishexponent twitter.com/jewishexponent
R OTH -G OLDSTEINS ’ M EMORIAL C HAPEL
Jason S. Goldstein • Mgr. Lic. No. 4633
Pacific & New Hampshire Avenues
Atlantic City, NJ 08401
Southern New Jersey Chapels Available
www.GoldsteinsFuneral.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
THE GOOD LIFE
DECEMBER 20, 2018
9