Torchbearer
Not long before the Olympic Torch arrived in Atlanta, Georgia, the iconic flame made its way across Rhode Island. More than 12,000 people bore the torch on its long journey before the 1996 Olympic Games, and one of them was Mel Alperin, legendary local businessman and philanthropist. This photo was taken directly in front of the Dware JCC, then known as the Jewish Community Center of Rhode Island. While it’s hard to know for sure the identities of the two children pictured, this paper announced the Florida-based wedding of a Michael Richard Wolpert in 2015, and a David Santagata ran for a seat in the R.I. House of Representatives in 2018. Not pictured: a 25-year-old Snoop Dogg.
Newspaper courtesy Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association
published by
