WASHINGTON (JTA) — S. Fitzgerald Haney, who has deep Jewish community ties, was nominated as the U.S. ambassador to Costa Rica.
Haney is a principal of a New York investment company and lives in northern New Jersey.
He and his wife, Rabbi Andrea Haney, have been major donors to Democratic causes.
Haney lived from 1999 to 2001 in Israel working for an investment firm and has served on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum council, according to the announcement Tuesday of his nomination by President Obama.
He reportedly speaks Hebrew and has served on the board of the Foundation of Jewish Culture: Ayecha, a group that provides resources for Jews of color.
His mother-in-law, Betsy Dobrick, is formerly the executive director at Temple Beth Rishon in Wyckoff, N.J. and now teaches religious school at Temple Beth Orr in Coral Springs, Fla.
