A St. Louis family will be honored next month by the Lander’s College for Men. The school, which is located in Kew Garden Hills, Queens, provides students a unique opportunity to achieve both their professional goals while maintaining their commitment to Judaism.

The school is honoring St. Louisans Dr. Michael and Bonita Goldmeier and family with “The Family Legacy Award.” The Goldmeiers are parents of six boys, four of whom attended Lander College. The award presentation will be a part of the school’s Chag HaSemicha Ceremony and Gala Dinner, honoring 24 musmachim, or newly ordained rabbis. The ceremony will take place on Sunday, March 6 in Queens, N.Y.

The Goldmeiers

“The Goldmeiers embody the highest ideals of Lander College. They deeply value community, Torah, academic and professional excellence and chesed, all values that we strive to inculcate in our students,” said Moshe Sokol, dean and a professor at Lander College for Men.

The Goldmeiers sent their six boys to Jewish day schools, followed by a gap year yeshivot in Israel.  When Josh, the oldest, discovered Lander College, he set that as the family’s standard. Bonita Goldmeier, who has lived in St. Louis her entire life and is a member of U City Shul, says Lander College shares the same Midwestern values she cherishes.

“St. Louis is a relatively small Jewish community, but with strong Midwest values — where everyone helps each other out and children are raised with minimal materialism,” said Bonita Goldmeier. ” When our boys who attended H.F. Epstein Hebrew Academy, and were looking to take the next step to college, they wanted to continue their Jewish learning. When we found Lander, it really just felt right. Lander has a family feel, yet it offers a great education and preparation for careers and life.”

The family legacy

One by one, the family legacy continued with four Goldmeier’s attending classes at Lander.

‘This is the right place for our family. Lander College is a place where the dean’s door is always open. Students can feel comfortable speaking with rabbis or professors who all know their names and are rooting for their success,” said Goldmeier.

Founded by Dr. Bernard Lander in 1971, the school is part of the Touro College system. Lander was an Orthodox rabbi in Baltimore before returning to his native New York in 1944. He taught at Hunter College and from 1954 to 1969 served as dean of Yeshiva University’s Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies before founding the college.