Israel Pickholtz is Pittsburgh-born, living in Israel since 1973. His personal research includes single-surname research in Galicia (formerly Austria, now Ukraine) as well as his families from Slovakia, Poland, Belarus, Hungary and later in the US, UK and Israel. From there he developed skills relating to more general Jewish genealogy, including Holocaust research.

Israel has participated in grave translation projects, searches for missing relatives and Holocaust-era insurance claims, as well as traditional genealogy research using European, American and Israeli sources.

HIs most frequent assignments from Israeli sources involve locating and photographing graves, locating living people, Mandatory Citizenship records, records for Galician residents in the 1920s and 1930s, inheritance matters and Holocaust research.

Israel has lectured IAJGS Conferences on Jewish Genealogy in the United States, as well as other subjects in Israel and has served on the Board of the Israel Genealogical Society, as Secretary of Gesher Galicia and as Town Leader for JRI-Poland.

Recently, he has taken his family research deep into the field of DNA and is prepared to consult with clients on the subject.

Israel's blog can be found at http://allmyforeparents.com and his family Web site at http:// www.pikholz.com