ARIEL MAYOR RON NACHMAN PASSES AWAY AT 70

Israel National News reports that the mayor of Ariel, Ron Nachman, has died at 70 from cancer. One of his most definite achievements was getting their college recognized with university status:

Nachman worked hard in recent years towards promoting the recognition of the Ariel University Center as a full-fledged university. The process was just recently completed.

In his last interview with Arutz Sheva, Nachman praised the decision to recognize Ariel as a university, saying, “This is a day of celebration for all residents of Israel. It’s a festive day for all of us, not just for the residents of the city or the students, but for all citizens of Israel. Thousands of students from all around Israel are currently studying in Ariel and, according to forecasts, Ariel will become a major university city like Princeton in the U.S.”

A new poll finds that 65 percent support upgrading Ariel's center to university status. Fighting for the recognition was a battle well worth the effort.