About Marcia Jo Zerivitz
Marcia Jo Zerivitz has devoted her career to preserving Jewish history, elevating Jewish voices, and educating the broader public. Among her many accomplishments: under her leadership, the Jewish Museum of Florida was established on Miami Beach in 1995; she initiated the legislation creating Florida Jewish History Month and Jewish American Heritage Month; she co-authored Florida Jewish Heritage Trail (Florida Department of State); served as the on-camera narrator for the 2014 PBS documentary A Call to Serve: Florida Jews in the U.S. Military; and authored Jews of Florida: Centuries of Stories.
Marcia Jo continues her lifelong commitment to confronting antisemitism through education. Following the award presentation, she will share a shortened version of her impactful lecture, “Can I See the Horns? The Roots of Antisemitism.”
About the PRIMER Awards
On Sunday, March 8, 2026, the 16th annual PRIMER Advocacy Award will be presented to long-time Jewish activist and educator Marcia Jo Zerivitz. The brunch will take place in Clearwater beginning at 10:00 a.m.
PRIMER—Promoting Responsibility in Middle East Reporting—was founded in 1992 by Dr. Norman Gross and a group of committed community advocates as a non-partisan, grassroots media-watch organization. At a time when anti-Jewish and anti-Israel bias in the media was often ignored or minimized, PRIMER took on the difficult and often unpopular work of holding institutions accountable. Its message was direct and enduring: “silence is NOT golden.”
Over the years, PRIMER played a meaningful role in identifying and challenging antisemitic narratives in academic, media, and public forums, helping to elevate awareness well beyond the Jewish community. While the organization itself became inactive in 2009, its mission did not end. To ensure that PRIMER’s values would continue to be recognized and advanced, the Norman N. Gross PRIMER Advocacy Award was established to honor individuals and organizations who embody courage, vigilance, and principled advocacy.
The annual presentation of the PRIMER Advocacy Award remains the highlight of this work, and this year’s honoree is especially fitting.