Another longtime beneficiary of Cafritz Foundation support has been The Textile Museum. Vidal wrote, "Irene's evening dress was much too vivid, too personal, too fashionable for the calculated dowdiness" of a dinner in old-line Washington. . Memorial services will be held at 2:00 pm on December 2 at First Presbyterian Church of Richardson with David Schaefers officiating. To plant trees in memory, please visit the. Mr. ", She kept up appearances even in the privacy of her home, where she drank Scotch from a decanter in the living room. Through his dedication to the Foundation and his beloved Washington, DC community, Mr. Cafritz was deeply committed to building a more just and beautiful region with access to opportunities for all. 2017-2023 Tribute Archive. It is not clear how old he was when he fell for a 19-year-old Hungarian-American beauty named Gwendolyn Detre de Surany; perhaps because she was so much younger than he, Cafritz appears to have habitually understated his age by six or eight years. Devoted father to Laurence (Sherri) Cafritz and Jodi (Mark Bronsky) Cafr In July 1993, he was elected President and CEO of the Foundation and in the last six months became Chairman Emeritus. Even as the chaos of wartime Washington started to loosen social strictures, Washington's leading hostess, Evalyn Walsh McLean, stopped entertaining; this opening, together with a boost from Eleanor "Cissy" Patterson, publisher of the Washington Times-Herald, gave Gwendolyn her opportunity. Money -- to be sure. The best poems for funerals, memorial services., and cards. He had emigrated from Russia as a boy with his family, which stopped briefly in New York before settling down to run a grocery store at 24th and P streets NW. Operating under his own banner, Calvin Cafritz Enterprises, he has built both residential and commercial buildings in D.C. and Virginia. The Cafritz Foundation is also a longtime supporter of GWs Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service. Waiters passed shrimp with cocktail sauce, while full bars offered prehistoric spirits such as bourbon and gin, defiant holdouts in the age of chardonnay and bottled water. To slip out of the speedy traffic on Foxhall Road into the half-circle driveway was to slip back in time. Then there is the foundation itself, with its powerful endowment for the city. He was the eldest son of real estate titan Morris Cafritz and his wife Gwendolyn. The foundation also gave generously to support the recent GW Hillel building renovation, as well as to provide ongoing support to other civic-minded programs at GW. Gwen Cafritz and her chief rival, Perle Mesta, were in fact the first of a new breed -- celebrity hostesses who openly courted the press and saw no shame in self-promotion. Since 1989, Cafritz led the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, a charitable organization named for his parents. His class yearbook is littered with references to his family's money; in a list at the back of "most likely" candidates, the last two entries read, "Most Likely to Succeed: Johnson, Clague," and "Doesn't Have To: Cafritz. All rights reserved. For now, the house is tended by at least two servants, who are listed in court documents as living there, and the grass is beautifully clipped, the pachysandra well-tended. There are no events at this time. . By 1967, records show a sprinkling of grants to highbrow cultural causes: the Committee to Rescue Italian Art, the Opera Society of Washington, the Corcoran Gallery. James Edward Cafritz <p>James Edward Cafritz of Bethesda, MD, passed away on Tuesday, December 22, 2020, at the age of 90. 'Their Financial Needs Are Adequately Provided For'. But maybe they just don't want Gwen Cafritz to have the last word. sales@governmentexecutiveconsultingservices.com, Copyright 2022 Government Executive Consulting Services. It was an invitation to stroll around the house and remember: When Gwen Cafritz, with her 19-inch waist and Balmain gowns, her raven hair and regal air, had won constant publicity for her parties -- 22 to dinner, with toasts over champagne, and enormous receptions like this one each spring and fall. Was believed to be 102. You have funeral questions, we have answers. Gradually, as Gwendolyn took command of it, its character changed. Md.-based government contractor relocates headquarters to Fairfax Co. Montgomery County, MD Files Lawsuit Against McKinsey and Company, Inc. for Companys Role in Creating Opioid Epidemic, GSA Seeks Commercial Procurement Data Solution. Calvin Cafritz Death - Calvin Cafritz, a real estate developer, businessman, and philanthropist in the District of Columbia, passed away on Thursday, January 12, 2023, at Sibley Memorial Hospital. The mission of the foundation is improving the quality of life for all Washington, D.C., metropolitan-area residents, Boerstling said. (202) 338-4833, Georgetown Media Group. Named in the lawsuit, besides Calvin, is everyone to whom Gwendolyn Cafritz made a bequest, including her former servants and grandchildren, two nephews and an old escort. Except for minor bequests to former employees and other family members, she also left to the foundation all of the property she owned outright. "He got up at 5 or 5:30, and he wanted to show me what a hard-working man he was.". Rachel M. Ratowsky, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Tuesday, February 2, 2021. Recommend Calvin's obituary to your friends. With him at the helm, the foundation distributed hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to a range of organizations, including the National Gallery of Art, Bread for the City and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Website by Red Clay Creative, Chances are, many Washingtonians might not even realize how much real estate the Cafritz family is responsible for in the area. Once it was built, he wasn't interested in it.". Calvin Cafritz, the eldest son of real estate developer Morris Cafritz, died last week at the age of 91. Washington, DC 20006. If you experience a barrier that affects your ability to access content on this page, let us know via the. The complaint further asserts that "when Decedent allegedly executed the purported Will and Codicil that have been offered for probate herein, Decedent lacked a sound and disposing mind and was not capable of executing a valid deed or contract. . In the '70s she became a near-recluse. including, but not limited to, any facilities located in Washington, D.C.; Palm Beach, Florida; or Monte Carlo, Monaco." At the time the lawsuit was filed, family sources told The Washington Post that the marital trust was worth $84 million. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. Cafritz started by investing in real estate, and was always ready to make a prescient purchase, but his true passion was construction. He has always been involved in the bread and butter real estate of housing, from building single-family homes in Prince William County to renovating apartment complexes in Alexandria; he was a major beneficiary of the Washington condo boom. Calvin Cafritz, a native and longtime resident of Washington, DC, was born March 29, 1931, as the eldest son of Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz. Mr. Cafritz began his career with Cafritz Construction Company in 1947. ", The Cafritzes slept in separate bedrooms, Morris rising at dawn to get to the office. This suit asks the court to overturn her will, after which, under D.C. law, her property would be divided among her sons. Calvin Cafritz, their eldest son, became Board Chairman in 1989 and in 1993, he was elected President and CEO of the Foundation. "Conrad was persistent as hell in getting that project," says one person familiar with Conrad's business. Gradually, he branched into entertainment, operating the first open-air movies in Washington (a matter of setting up chairs in vacant lots), and then a bowling alley and pool hall in Southeast, near the Navy Yard. We hoped to let the public know about these outstanding individuals and to send a message to other excellent government employees that their dedication and considerable accomplishments are valued." She retained the right to will awaythe remaining three-quarters, or $63 million, which sheleft to the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. Here, still, was the art moderne house, nearly as startling in 1986 as it had been when Morris Cafritz built it for his young family almost 50 years earlier. Several friends read this changeability as part of a larger ambivalence about whether he wants to be an insider or a maverick, heir to a famous tradition or the rebel who subverts it. Asked in 1954 why all her sons bore two-syllable names beginning with "C," she replied, "Morris names all children, horses, dogs, apartment houses and everything around here. "For over 30 years the Cafritz Foundation has supported The Textile Museum, especially as a prominent proponent of the museums move to the George Washington University,"said John Wetenhall, director of the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum. The foundation's board of trustees consisted of Gwendolyn Cafritz and the two men who would become her executors -- Atlas and William P. Rogers, her attorney. The judge's decision, though in favor of Conrad and Carter Cafritz, is of little. Because Gwendolyn's estate has not been probated, its value is hard to establish. At the same time, he and Tompkins had the foresight to buy the land now known as Pentagon City. Morris Cafritz is remembered more for the quantity than for the aesthetic quality of his works. I hope they will. [2] He is buried in the Washington Hebrew Congregation Cemetery, Washington, D.C. Philanthropy [ edit] She was forever trying to tell me some long story I could never make head or tail of. . He was an excellent listener and always got both the big picture and important details by asking insightful questions. Conrad's strange, and doesn't mind people thinking that he's strange; he kind of encourages it.". According to Susan Boerstling, GWs assistant vice president for corporate and foundation relations, the partnership of the Cafritz Foundation with GW is unique in terms of other universities in the area. The annual Cafritz Awards Gala has been held on campus for many years, Boerstling noted, representing a partnership between the university, the foundation and the Office of the D.C. Mayor. To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Calvin Cafritz please visit our,
An obituary is not available at this time for Calvin Cafritz. Then, in 1988, came the announcement that Conrad Cafritz, with Japanese partners, had bought Washington Harbour, the glitzy development below K Street in Georgetown that had been troubled from its opening; the original developer of Washington Harbour was Western. "I'm sure part of it was to show Herb Miller he was serious.". Ridgewell's had produced, out of retirement, the same waiter who had announced the guests eight years before. ", According to friends, her confidence was badly shaken when she was robbed at home in 1969 by gunmen who bound and beat her, stealing most of the spectacular jewelry Morris had given her. It is a jolting reminder that Peggy and Conrad, a black woman married to a white Jewish millionaire in a racially divided city, represent a fascinating reshuffling of the social deck that produced the polarized marriage of Morris and Gwendolyn. In 2001, the Cafritz Foundation gave $1 million toward the Cafritz Conference Center in the University Student Center. In May, Jane Lipton Cafritz hosted a lunch that brought together a number of young opera singers and many of their supporters and admirers. Cafritz's passing was confirmed by the charitable organization named after Morris and his wife, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. That task was left to her closest relatives. And {Gwendolyn} was just considered comical, and there were a lot of jokes about her. No one needed to be told that this was Gwendolyn Cafritz's last hurrah. Cafritz developed real estate here for more than four decades, until his death in 1964, and by the sheer volume and variety of his building activities was for a time the undisputed king of his field. The trust was established at the death of Morris Cafritz in June 1964 in the interests of saving estate taxes. In the 1400 block of Spring Road NW is a row of seven almost identical walk-up apartment buildings. "The boys used to make a joke of their mother. In real estate, especially within the constricting borders of D.C., power isn't limited to those who own the land; controlling the land can be almost as good. Then there is the charitable legacy. Decedent lacked sufficient capacity to, and did not, dispose of her property with judgment and understanding, considering the nature, character and extent of her estate.". If she gave them an order, they took it lightly, because she liked to drink. At the heart of the lawsuit is a quest to gain at least partial control over the whole empire of which Gwendolyn's estate is an integral piece, over the whole legacy that Morris Cafritz created. The holdings in downtown Washington include buildings in the 1700 and 1800 blocks of K Street and a parking lot at 12th and K; buildings in the 1300 and 1600 blocks of L Street; property in the 1600, 1700 and 1800 blocks of I Street. But Conrad has rolled out impressive legal artillery, captained by former White House counsel Lloyd N. Cutler, and seems prepared to dig in for a long siege -- at least long enough, perhaps, to wring a settlement from his opponents. To Calvin Cafritz, she left the symbolic role of family chief, Morris Cafritz'ssuccessor in a world of primogeniture. Send simple, comforting meals with Home Chef. But Gwendolyn sometimes took pains to tell friends that she herself was not Jewish. Mr. Cafritz has been an exemplary advocate for excellence in government and nonprofits in D.C., and the foundation has been a force for community self-efficacy. Gwendolyn left the $14 million landmark to the foundation, with the very Gwendolyn-like wish that it become "a center in which scholars, statesmen and civic leaders may conduct research, conferences, seminars and other func-tions relating to issues of interest tomankind.". Calvin Cafritz Rockville, Maryland March 29, 1931 - January 12, 2023 Share Obituary: Tribute Wall Obituary & Events Share a memory Send Flowers Share a memory of Calvin Cafritz. In Washington, D.C., when Irene Bloch's husband dies, a character says, "We should build him a monument, and dedicate it to the Unknown Husband. Calvin Cafritz Obituary The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation has Died January 17, 2023 Calvin Cafritz Death, Obituary - Calvin Cafritz, the eldest son of Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz, died Thursday at Sibley Memorial Hospital. In 2021 alone, the foundation awarded some 430 grants to 413 nonprofits. All Rights Reserved. As he stood by her chair, he could name at a glance quite a few of the guests -- Chief Justice and Mrs. Warren Burger . Senator Barry Goldwater . Marvin LaVerne Katz, 83, of Dallas, Texas, passed away on November 22, 2019 in Dallas. Despite leaving a fragmented recording history, both as a singer and guitarist, Frazier was an associate of Robert Johnson, and recorded alongside Johnny Shines, Sampson Pittman, T.J. Fowler, Alberta Adams, Jimmy Milner, Baby Boy Warren, Boogie Woogie . Among the guests that June evening were her three sons, Calvin, Carter and Conrad. Services Guestbook Condolences. Of the three sons, Calvin seems to have had the best relationship with his mother. While he was head of the foundation, Cafritz distributed grants to places like The National Gallery of Art, Washington National Opera and The Kennedy Center. "He took me into the kitchen and showed me how the cook would leave coffee for him in the morning," remembers the friend. "When I heard about it, I wrote Conrad and told him I thought it was a horrible thing he and his brother were doing to his mother," says Dorothy L. Casey, a retired secretary who worked for the Cafritz Co. for decades, reflecting a widespread tendency to speak of Carter as his brother's satellite. An obituary is not available at this time for Calvin Cafritz. She has pressured the Smithsonian to increase the number of minorities in high-ranking positions and has been arrested outside the South African Embassy as a leader of Mother's Day protests there. She also made bequests of $100,000 each to 10 of her 13 grandchildren -- excluding the children Conrad adopted, to whom he has remained a committed father. ", High culture was one of her chosen routes to acceptance. One quarter to be divided among his sons, in trusts they would inherit outright at age 35. For one thing, he has a dark, avowedly cynical sense of humor. Rogers had served as her personal attorney since her husband, Washington real estate magnate Morris Cafritz, died in 1964. Washington, DC 20007 He was "greatly respected and liked, even in an antisemitic society," recalls Dixon. Mr. Cafritz was married previously two times; his first wife was Enid Cafritz and his second wife was Joyce Smith. With that philosophy he built a substantial reputation for philanthropy. But almost no one seems to doubt that Conrad is the main force behind it. All are multimillionaires, and Conrad Cafritz, by most accounts the prime instigator of the lawsuit, has spun his inheritance from his father into a vast personal fortune of at minimum $100 million. Implicitly, Carter and Conrad Cafritz are also challenging her designation of Calvin, the eldest, as the only son who will have a future role in running the foundation, which already controls assets of more than $220 million. He was for years the president of the Jewish Community Center and donated the land for its first headquarters on Q Street NW. Some basic help and starters when you have to write a tribute to someone you love. Write your message of sympathy today. Their differences were, in fact, a part of their legend, for they were one of the earliest families to bring together the two cities on the Potomac: On the one hand was the ethereal world of social and political Washington -- her world, which venerated either good birth or a seat in the Senate; on the other hand was his world, the corporeal city of sewers and streets and buildings and real citizens, men and women who grew up above grocery stores the way Morris Cafritz had. In addition, there are at least 10 apartment buildings in D.C. Conrad, say friends, has watched in frustration as downtown Washington boomed and the foundation failed to take maximum advantage of its holdings. In the '50s, Cafritz had an early conviction that the future direction of downtown Washington was along the K Street corridor, and before his death in 1964 he built a dozen buildings in the "new" downtown, mostly on K and I streets NW. There were of course the grand exceptions like the Warburgs, and Walter Lippmann, and Arthur Krock . The foundation, among Greater Washingtons largest with more than $400 million in assets and some $65 million in annual revenue and expenses, according to its most recent Form 990, is expected to issue a formal statement in the coming days. Yet Morris made little impression on Gwendolyn's social world, and she often went out or took vacations alone. When the Cafritzes' back terrace offered the most celebrated view of the city, southeast, past the swimming pool and rolling lawn, all the way to the Capitol. The house on Foxhall Road, completed in 1938, was explicitly designed to fulfill that ambition. That's why her final victory rather delighted me. The Cafritz Foundation was one of the biggest in the D.C. area, with over $400 million in assets and around $65 million in annual revenue and expenses, according to The Washington Business Journal. The India-born founder and CEO of District-based software company Hunch Analytics is an active benefactor of both Washington and Indian causes and nonprofit groups. What kind of arrangement is appropriate, where should you send it, and when should you send an alternative? He resigned seven years later to form Cafritz Enterprises. He began with houses, ultimately building about 10,000 homes in the Washington area. It is also different from proving that a respected lawyer and former Cabinet member, in league with a longtime family associate, unfairly loaded the dice. In 1962, when it was the product of Morris Cafritz's vision, the largest grants went to the United Jewish Appeal and the Community Chest Federation.
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