United Jewish Federation of Stamford, New Canaan and Darien (UJF) is excited to announce the two recipients of the 2025-2026 Lilly Reiser Scholarship. Each awardee will receive a $10,000 academic scholarship, renewable for up to four years, to assist them in reaching their educational goals.

Maxim Ferits – Stamford, CT will be entering his freshman year at Harvey Mudd College. 

Eden Shahar – Ridgefield, CT is a current student at University of Connecticut.

“Among dozens of applicants, Eden and Maxim clearly demonstrated the most potential to live up to Lilly Reiser’s example, as a person who overcame significant hardship, prized education, and became a responsible and productive citizen. The entire process has been so meaningful to participate in. We are very excited to honor Lilly’s memory by fulfilling her wishes to assist young Jews achieve their academic dreams like she did,” said Nan Gordon, Chair of UJF’s Lilly Reiser Scholarship Committee. 

Lilly E. Reiser (1924-2020) was born in the small town of Moravska-Ostrava in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (now the Czech Republic). Having suffered the inhumanity and indignity of forced labor and internment during the Holocaust at Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, and Bergen-Belsen, Lilly was eventually liberated from Bergen-Belsen by British soldiers. She emigrated to the United States in 1945 and was able to obtain her degrees only because of the generosity of various Jewish communal organizations that provided her with the scholarships necessary to do so. Lilly completed her undergraduate education at Hunter College and went on to achieve a graduate degree from Columbia University’s New York School of Social Work. She proudly served as a social worker in the New York City Public School system for over 50 years. Ever thankful for the financial support she received from the organized Jewish community, Lilly wanted to provide similar support to deserving and financially challenged students of Jewish faith.

The Lilly Reiser Scholarship, administered by UJF, provides academic scholarships to Jewish students with need from Connecticut or New York. The application window for the 2026-2027 Lilly Reiser Scholarship will open in early 2026. For more information, please contact UJF Deputy Director Eric Ross at eric@ujf.org.