Marilyn Blumer was born in Montreal and has been a volunteer on behalf of the Jewish community, beginning during her student days at McGill University. Since then, she has made volunteerism a central part of her life. In 1971 she and her husband made their first visit to Israel as part of a Young Leadership mission. This experience inspired her and laid the foundation for her life-long involvement in Jewish communal life at the local, national, and international levels.

In 1978 she chaired the Women’s Division of the Combined Jewish Appeal. Subsequently, she was President of the Auxiliary of the Maimonides Geriatric Centre and then Vice President and Chair of the Budget Committee of its Foundation. At FEDERATION CJA, she chaired the all-important Community Planning and Allocations Committee and was co-chair of the Council on Immigrant Integration and Acculturation. She sat on the Executive Committee, Board of Directors, and was an enthusiastic member of the Montreal Jewish Community Campus Project. In 1999 she became President and served her community with distinction during her two-year term. Recently, shewas the founding Editor-in-Chief of Tikun Olam, a publication of FEDERATION CJA.

Marilyn puts her experience, passion, and knowledge of the Jewish community to work nationally at United Israel AppealFederations Canada, where she is currently a Vice President and co-chair of the Israel and Overseas Committee. Concurrently, she is a member of the Executive Committee of the Canadian Council for Israel and Jewish Advocacy (CIJA), while chairing its Budget Committee.

Lending her voice to the international scene, Marilyn is a representative of the Canadian federations to the United Jewish Communities (UJC) in New York. She chairs the Negev Committee of the UJC Israel and Overseeas Pillar. As a further manifestation of her commitment to Israel and its people, she travels there frequently as a member of the Israel Committee of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI), of which she is an Associate Board Member.

Marilyn continues to be an exceptionally dedicated leader in the Jewish community, who inspires her many friends and colleagues. Among the honours she has received are the Bess Pascal Memorial Scholarship and the Julia Silverberg Brown Memorial Award from Women’s FEDERATION CJA, the Ida Steinberg Memorial Trophy from the Combined Jewish Appeal, and the Distinguished Leadership Award of FEDERATION CJA.

Marilyn Blumer serves as an Associate Member of the Board of Governors since June 2006. From 2002 until than she served as a Committee Member.