Joy Silverman
| Joy Silverman | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Joy Fererh April 8, 1947 |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of Maryland |
| Spouse(s) | Richard Simons (divorced) David L. Paul (divorced) Jeffrey Silverman (divorced) |
| Children | Evan Marc Simons Jessica Silverman |
| Parent(s) | Jeanette Rothenberg Fererh Ben Fererh |
| Family | Bruce Wolosoff (brother) |
Joy Silverman (born April 8, 1947) is an American socialite and Republican fundraiser.
Silverman was born Joy Fererh to a Jewish family of modest means on April 8, 1947, the daughter of Jeanette (née Rothenberg) and Ben Fererh. In 1951, her parents divorced and in 1955, she moved to Great Neck, New York with her mother's new husband, Marc Germont, a French Jew. In Great Neck, she attended elementary school and took Hebrew classes at Temple Israel. She has one half-brother from her mother's second marriage, composer Bruce Wolosoff. Her mother worked as a secretary for wealthy Long Island real estate developer Alvin Bibbs Wolosoff with whom she had an affair and married after Germont's death. In 1964, she attended the Howard School for Girls in Bridgewater, Massachusetts and then studied liberal arts at the University of Maryland form 1965 to 1968 but dropped out. She then went to work as a receptionist at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in New York City.
In 1988, she worked for the New York presidential campaign of then-Vice President George H. W. Bush raising over $600,000 becoming one of his top fundraisers. After Bush's victory, Bush's brother, Jonathan Bush and Republican Party Chairman Richard N. Bond recommended her for an ambassadorship and she was nominated as United States Ambassador to Barbados. Senator Paul Sarbanes shut down the nomination stating she is "a candidate with no ostensible qualifications for ambassadorship other than her campaign contributions." The Wolosoff family attorney and in-law, Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals Sol Wachtler (Wachtler's wife was the niece of Alvin Bibbs Wolosoff) tried to intervene on her behalf with formal documentation of Silverman's campaign contributions but the nomination eventually expired in the U.S. Senate never coming to a vote. President Bush then appointed her as a trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. When Alvin Bibbs Wolosoff died in 1984, Wachtler served as executor of his $24 million estate and protected Silverman's $2.4 million inheritance from Wolosoff's son James who had been disinherited. In 1988, Silverman and Wachtler began to have an affair but the relationship soured in 1991 as Wachtler refused to leave his wife; Silverman then began dating attorney David Samson. Wachtler did not take her leaving him well and soon began harassing Silverman. Silverman directly contacted then FBI Director William Sessions who referred the case to the FBI field office in Newark. After a call to Silverman was traced to Wachtler, he was arrested on 7 November 1992, on charges including extortion, racketeering, and blackmail. Prosecutors alleged that he demanded a $20,000 blackmail payment in exchange for turning over compromising photographs and tapes of Silverman with her then boyfriend, attorney David Samson. He eventually pleaded guilty to harassing Silverman and threatening to kidnap her daughter. Wachtler resigned as a judge and from the bar; and was sentenced to 15 months, but received time off for good behavior. Silverman was besieged by the press and blamed for her role in removal of the popular judge (some say he could have been the first Jewish president) and left New York City.
...
Wikipedia