Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz was JFREJ's founding Executive Director, a writer, poet, lesbian feminist, and and lifelong anti-racist activist. Melanie died in 2018, and in the years since, many in the JFREJ community and beyond have continued to honor her tremendous legacy through revisiting her written work, uplifting her contributions as an activist in New York City, and reflecting on what she meant to all of us.