CJP had its offices here when in 1980 Ruth Fein became the first woman elected president.

A 1949 graduate of Goucher College, Ruth Fein was also a founding board member of the Jewish Women's Archive, president of the Jewish Community Council of Greater Boston, the American Jewish Historical Society, the Jewish Coalition for Literacy, and the United Way of Massachusetts. She was the founding president of the New England Holocaust Memorial Committee and founding chair of the Jewish Coalition for Literacy. Many prizes and scholarships are named for Ruth Fein in recognition of her contributions to the Jewish community.