This is the note that Noelle will include with Nick's present: Nick - Since during the "holidaze" we think of family, we were wondering what you know about your family history. Your mom's and uncle Robert's grandfather was Robert, however, this wasn't the name he was born with. He was born Dec 5, 1912 in Berlin, Germany named Isadore Bigos. He came to New York with his family in 1914. By 1915, their name was Bloom. he went to college and he also worked in mines in Colorado. He went to grad school and became a professor of earth sciences and physics at what is now Southern Connecticut State University. After 1940, he changed his name to Robert. Why? Since he had a "Jewish name", he was discriminated against, like most Jews were in the U.S. and Europe. In order to get a job, he needed a nonobvious ethnicity name. Hard to believe these days, but I found it interesting. (I didn't know one of my grandmothers was Jewish until I studied my own genealogy -- she didn't talk about it.) Anyway, your gr-grandfather died Thanksgiving 1979. You could ask your grandparents to tell you stories about him. Uncle Robert has a funny story about when he was a kid and went to Entenmann's Bakery Store with him.