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Robert I. Lappin used to be a familiar sight on Lafayette Street in Salem, where he would rollerblade to work from his home in Swampscott. The ponytail made him unmistakable. But Lappin is 87 now, and gave up the skates about a year and a half ago.

This week, Lappin honored a promise. He and his family donated $5 million to restore the retirement savings of about 60 employees of various family enterprises, including the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation. The charity was almost wiped out when the Ponzi scheme run by Bernard Madoff collapsed. Lappin and his family had invested all of their employees’ 401(k) retirement plans with Madoff more than a decade ago.

“I am absolutely thrilled,’’ said Amy Powell, a former publicist for the foundation and one of the employees whose savings were restored. “I really knew in my heart, all my heart, that Mr. Lappin would do all he could do for his employees.’’

Lappin had invested so heavily with Madoff that it cost him much of his personal fortune. The foundation lost $8 million when Madoff’s assets were frozen last December, and for a time was forced to shut its doors. Lappin said that now, after Madoff and the payment to employees, his personal net worth is less than $5 million, about a tenth of what it was before the scandal broke.

Yet giving his own money to the employees was simply the right thing to do, he said. “At least from the feedback, they feel very grateful and happy, which makes me feel very happy,’’ said Lappin. “So far no kisses, but I have had some hugs.’’

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BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — In one of the least Jewish states in the country, a traditional Jewish group working to revive religious observance has built a mikvah, a ritual bath for spiritual purification.

The bath opened several months ago in an extension built on the Bozeman home of Rabbi Chaim Bruk and his wife, Chavie, who came here with the Hasidic movement Chabad Lubavitch.

As a result of the Bruks’ work, Montana now has what Chabad says is the only contemporary mikvah in a vast area that includes Idaho, North Dakota and South Dakota. The Bruks expect to draw Jews from outside the state, including tourists.

It’s “a milestone for Jewish life in Montana,” Rabbi Bruk said.

The American Jewish Year Book, which tracks the Jewish population, estimated that as of 2007, 850 of Montana’s nearly 945,000 residents were Jewish.

However, Bruk believes there are about 2,500 Jewish households in the state, plus hundreds of Jewish college students. That’s based on personal visits, Internet contacts, mailing lists and research including rabbinical students’ trips to far-flung parts of the state, Bruk said.