The Gruss Life Monument Funds
was established in 1991 to perpetuate the philanthropic endeavors
of Caroline and Joseph Gruss. Mrs. Gruss died in 1987, Mr. Gruss
in 1993, but there is no doubt that their legacy is eternal.
Joseph Gruss
was born on March 19, 1903 in Lvov, the youngest of seven children
of a major Polish banking family. His father, Isaac, was a
Talmudic scholar as well as banker, and his mother’s family was in
the export grain business. Between the two world wars, Lvov had
the third largest Jewish community in Poland and was known for its
rich Jewish intellectual life. It was also visited by rampant
anti-Semitism and pogroms, which the family survived.
In 1934, Joseph married Caroline Zelaznik, daughter of a
Czechoslovakian army officer and, herself, an attorney who clerked
for a Polish judge. The young family prospered and, in 1939,
Joseph Gruss established a travel bureau in New York so that he
could regularly leave Poland. He and Caroline were in the US when
the Polish borders were closed. Much of their family, including
their first-born child, perished in the Holocaust.
In New York, Mr. Gruss founded an investment trading company.
Investments in natural gas and petroleum exploration were also
successful. He and Caroline had two children, Evelyn Gruss Lipper,
M.D. and Martin D. Gruss, and six grandchildren.
In 1968, Mr. Gruss became aware of the particular problems in
Jewish education -- insufficient salaries for teachers and unsafe,
unsanitary conditions in the schools, among others. Thus began one
philanthropist’s unique vision. From that time on, Caroline and
Joseph Gruss became the foremost benefactors of Jewish education
in the world. During their lifetimes, they supported hundreds of
Jewish schools and thousands of students and educators. In Israel,
schools and child-care centers and medical units bear the Gruss
name as well.
About
the Foundation
