Jewish community leaders honored as “Local Heroes”

Jewish community leaders Zane Buzby and Stephen Sass were honored at the 14th Annual Local Heroes Awards on Tuesday, Oct. 18, organized by KCET and Union Bank, N.A.

Buzby is the founder of the Survivors Mitzvah project, which provides financial aid to Holocaust survivors living in Europe.

Stephen Sass, president of the Jewish Historical Society of Southern California, has spearheaded the effort to revitalize the Breed Street Shul in Boyle Heights.

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The culmination of a yearlong “Local Heroes” campaign that aired on public television station KCET, the event also honored community activists working on behalf of local women, Asian Americans, African-Americans and Latinos. The ceremony took place at the Club Nokia at L.A. Live.

“I feel terrific about being honored,” Buzby said in an interview. “It was great company to be in, and it’s really nice that they acknowledged the good that’s going on in the world.”

“With so much strife and so much craziness,” Buzby added, “it’s good to know that there other people out there striving to do something good.”

In their professional lives, Buzby directs sitcoms for television and Sass works for HBO as vice president of legal affairs.