“Anything I am involved in I want to leave it in better shape than when I received it.”
~ Keri Silvyn, attorney and former chair of Jewish Community
Foundation of Southern Arizona
Not every young girl can say she shared her bat mitzvah with her grandmother. Keri Silvyn can. On Nov. 10, 1984, Keri and her 64-year-old maternal grandmother each became a bat mitzvah. “She was of a generation when girls didn’t do that,” Keri says of her grandmother, Reva Balanoff, who was finally able to realize her dream.
Keri, attorney and owner of Lazarus, Silvyn & Bangs, P.C., learned an important lesson from her grandmother: make sure to realize dreams while helping others.
A blind date and so much more
Keri’s childhood was marked by a very strong Jewish identity, which included involvement in United Synagogue Youth. Her family attended Congregation Beth El in Phoenix, and she attended Hebrew and Sunday school. Keri moved to Tucson in 1989 for her undergraduate degree and stayed for law school. She fully intended to head back to Phoenix at some point, but while at law school, Keri was set up on a blind date with Jeff Silvyn, who was already practicing law. That became the game changer for her to stick around. Tucson is glad she did.
Following a successful law career practicing with a large firm, Keri decided to try her hand at her own practice along with her father, Larry Lazarus, who runs the Phoenix office, partner Frank Bangs and two other lawyers. Lazarus, Silvyn & Bangs, P.C, was born as a land-use law firm for zoning and land-use planning, helping developers and communities grow responsibly. “I am learning by fire how to run a business because they don’t teach you that in law school,” Keri says.
There’s honor in tzedakah
As if her law practice were not enough, Keri throws a lot of volunteerism into the mix. “I’ve always been one of those people who stepped into leadership positions,” she says, adding that her enjoyment of working with organizations to do good things in the community goes back to student council in high school, where she started the Students Against Drunk Driving program in her school.
She grew up in a Conservative home where tzedakah and giving back is ingrained in family. “It just seems to be what I do because I like it,” Keri says.
In December she will be named chair of the TMC Foundation. She got involved in the Jewish community through the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona’s Real Estate and Allied Professions, REAP, which offers programs on hot topics in real estate. She became a steering committee member and ultimately a co-chair of the group. Next she became involved with the Jewish Community Foundation of Southern Arizona; Keri chaired the board for three years during a time of significant transition for that organization.
“I am very passionate about making sure our Jewish community is secure for the next generation,” Keri says. “Part of what I do for a living creates senses of place in the form of development projects. In the Jewish community, I took a leadership role in the foundation, which is about people investing in our future and creating multigenerational trusts or using other financial tools to ensure our local Jewish community is there for the next generation. It does not require great wealth to be part of this effort. Nobody else is going to sustain the Tucson Jewish community other than the Tucson Jewish community.” She stepped into her role at the foundation at a transitional time and ensured a strong base to take it into the next decade. “The foundation couldn’t be any stronger than it currently is,” Keri says.
She and her father provide significant volunteer and assistance work in land-use areas and are very involved in community boards within the Tucson and Phoenix communities. They do pro bono work for clients including veteran’s groups, autism organizations and others. Keri also co-founded Imagine Greater Tucson, which brings community together to create a vision for our regional future. That vision has been or is in the process of being incorporated into all of the comprehensive and general plans throughout the region. In recognition of all that she has done within the region, Keri was honored as the Tucson Woman of the Year in 2013.
Noted for her mentoring and ability to inspire others, family is what inspires Keri the most. She shares her home with Jeff and their three children: son Bennett, 14, daughter Riley, 10, and Ethan, Riley’s twin brother. The family is affiliated with Or Chadash, a Reform synagogue, and they enjoy spending time and travelling together.
Whether it is family or community, Keri gives her all. “If I take something on, I do it passionately and 100 percent,” she says.
In doing so, she hopes to leave a better world. “Anything I am involved in I want to leave it in better shape than when I received it,” she says. “I want it to have improved and move forward and be in a better position, whether a community, a project organization or my children. I want them to be better people because of their interactions with me.”
