Averbuch.net

(I first had this post at my old blog; but after the transition to averbuch.net, I wanted to make sure not to lose it… there’s only one or two others I’ll manually bring along as well)

Every Olympics time, I start trying to figure out who else out there in the world has the same, or similar, name as me. The Olympics usually bring this on, since inevitably, there are one or two Russian (Ilia Averbukh) and/or Israeli (Alex Averbukh) athletes competing who’s last name is some variant on Averbuch. The 2006 Turino games seems to be an exception; I’ve yet to discover any not-quite-relatives.

That said, through some web-surfing, I have discovered a few similar-named people recently:

• Gerald Averbuch, for which the Averbuch Auditorium at University of Vanderbilt is named. I emailed the school to find out more about him… This was there response:
  

  "Averbuch Auditorium at OGSM was named for Gerald Averbuch, one of two men who spearheaded the building fund drive for the Owen School’s new building in 1980. Mr Averbuch was a Vanderbilt graduate (1943) and a partner in Pargh-Averbuch real estate development firm. He was also one of the founders and a director of General Care Corporation. He became a Life Associate of the Owen School and a member of the Steering Committe of the Associates. He was also awarded the Associates Chair in honor of his outstanding services to the school."
  This information was taken from "The Owen Manager", Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University; v.1 no.2 Summer 1980.

• Aaron Hyman (my middle name), owns a restaurant in Charleston, South Carolina. I’ve heard rumors of this place for a while, since a college friend mentioned once that they saw a place in Charleston called "Aaron’s, A Hyman establishment". www.hymanseafood.com/about.html has all of the details on this one.
• Aaron Averbuch, the only other one in the world. I actually knew about him from when I was younger. My dad had purchased as a gift for me "The World Book of Averbuch’s", when I was about 5 years old. The book was pretty much a culling of phone books from around the world, which was cool in the pre-Internet (or at least pre-ubiquitous Internet) days. I, being curious, wrote letters to everyone listed. Very few wrote me back, but Aaron from Illinois did. We’ve had a few contacts throughout the years, and recently, since his son happens to live in Seattle, and when he was in town, I jumped at the opportunity to have dinner with him; it was a bit surreal, eating with one’s namesake.
• There are two different Averbuch Realty’s:
  • averbuch.com/index_en.html, which has offices in Massachusetts and Florida. I should try and find out more.
  • www.averbuchrealty.com/ has offices in Huntsville, Alabama. Scott Averbuch is the owner, and I occasionally get his email, due to confusion over addresses.

Any other Averbuch’s out there? Let me know!