SOUTH PORTLAND – The Girl Scouts of Kennebec Council will honor Judith Magyar Isaacson at is seventh annual Women of Distinction dinner to be held on Dec. 3 at the Portland Marriott at Sable Oaks.

The dinner recognizes area women who serve as exemplary role models for today’s girls and young women and acknowledges the unique achievements of women in all fields.

Isaacson was born and raised in Hungary, where she lived through four years of Nazi occupation. Along with much of her family, she was deported to Auschwitz/Birkenau in 1944. She was eventually transferred to Tekla – a camp near Leipzig – from which she was liberated by the U.S. Army in 1945.

Isaacson later chronicled her wartime experiences in “Seed of Sarah: Memoirs of a Survivor,” published in 1991. “Seed of Sarah” has been translated into several languages and continues to be hailed worldwide as among the most stunningly realistic and powerful survivor books ever written; the experiences she details serve as a powerful testament to the resilience of the human spirit.

Isaacson and her husband, Irving, settled in his hometown of Lewiston after the war. A 1965 Bates College graduate, she received a master’s degree from Bowdoin College in 1969. Isaacson was hired as dean of women at Bates in 1969 and in 1975 was appointed dean of students. Isaacson has three grown children, and she and her husband reside in Auburn.

This year’s celebration will include silent and live auctions, as well as entertainment by the Portland String Quartet. Seating for the dinner is limited. For more information contact Jennifer Urycki at 772-1177 or 1-800-660-1072, or via e-mail at jenniferu@gskc.org.

Proceeds will allow the Girls Scouts of the Kennebec Council to continue to offer quality programs to almost 11,000 girls ages 5 to 17 in Androscoggin, Cumberland, Franklin, Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln, Oxford, Sagadahoc, Somerset and York counties.