GILBERT SEGAL

A native of France, Gilbert and his wife, Marie-Paule, became a United States citizens in 2004. Because Gilbert's father refused for his family to wear the yellow star, as part of the anti-Jewish laws issued by the Vichy government, Gilbert was put in a religious schools. He changed schools five times in four years as his family moved through various levels of hiding. With a passion for history, Gilbert read all of the commemorative plaques in the towns he visited. By the time he completed his schooling, Gilbert recounted the story of "Joseph sold by his brothers into slavery" in the private audience of the Ambassador of the Pope to France, who would later become Pope John XXIII.

Primary location: Princeton United States