Scott Genzer

Scott Genzer, originally from New York, is the grandson of two Galitzianers both from Mielec, Poland. He started researching his family tree almost 30 years ago and expanded his research to all Jews from Mielec 15 years ago. Today Scott maintains and expands a “Mielec Family Tree” with over 44,000 people, supported by thousands of original and scanned documents that he has obtained over the years. He travels to Poland annually to continue his research and perform cemetery restoration of plots that currently exist in the Mielec powiat, and recently published a book about the Old Jewish Cemetery of Mielec titled “Matzevot Melitz” in 2023 with fellow Melitzer descendant Chana Spiegel.

In addition to researching Mielec, Scott also pioneered the use of facial recognition technology in genealogical research. He published an article on this topic titled “Using Facial Recognition Tools to Identify Unnamed Ancestors” (Avotaynu Volume XXXV, Number 3, Fall 2019) and has presented his methodologies to JGS Cleveland, JGS Toronto, JGS Orlando, and the Center for Jewish History in New York.

Scott is currently a Data Scientist and Lead Product Manager for Siemens’ Rapidminer AI software. He holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts degrees from Columbia University. Scott lives in the quiet woods of Vermont.