Distinguished D.C. Government Employees Recognized at Cafritz Awards Gala, Office of Communications & Marketing It took lawyers and IRS agents 4 years to settle the estate, which was valued in 1968 at $66 million. 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. He warmly greeted staff and fellow philanthropist alike, making no distinction between people. For one thing, he has a dark, avowedly cynical sense of humor. There he built the massive River House apartments; his estate eventually sold most of the land for others to develop. 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. "Calvin is a very sweet, very nice person," says D.C. lawyer Max N. Berry. 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. I hope they will. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. But like all wills, the one now known in probate court as 3035-88 offers more than one legacy, and thus more than one motive. He is also survived by his three children, Elliot Cafritz (Lauren), Anthony Cafritz (Pearl), and Elizabeth Peltekian(Viken); five grandchildren, Sam, Alexander, Seb, Aram, and Van; three stepchildren, Olivia Rubenstein, Irina Rubenstein, and James Speyer; and two step-grandchildren Evan and MJSpeyer. Her husband, along with her parents, was buried in Washington Hebrew Cemetery, in Southeast, in a nicely landscaped, square plot designed for four under a monumental headstone reading CAFRITZ. ", Conrad and Carter Cafritz have chosen instead the purgatory of probate court, where their complaints suggest less lovely memories. Gwendolyn Cafritz died of cancer last November. The entire time, he fought with gloves off, publicly charging his rivals with bad faith. Washington, DC 20007 sales@governmentexecutiveconsultingservices.com, Copyright 2022 Government Executive Consulting Services. To Edward R. Murrow, in a 1956 interview, she said that to speak of Washington cocktail parties was "unfair to Washington. Mr. In 2021 alone, the foundation awarded some 430 grants to 413 nonprofits. 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. The Morris and. Conrad's strange, and doesn't mind people thinking that he's strange; he kind of encourages it.". 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. Cafritz is survived by Jane, his third wife, who is a lawyer in the area. 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. Of the $54 million the foundation has given away since 1970, $32 million has gone to the arts and humanities, almost $9 million to community services, $8 million to education and almost $5 million to health. . . But almost no one seems to doubt that Conrad is the main force behind it. Two and a half years later Gwendolyn Cafritz was dead of cancer, at 78, and the following summer -- three years after that final party -- her two younger sons filed suit in D.C. Superior Court to have her will overturned and her estate, worth at least $140 million, divided among her children. In 2021 alone some 430 grants were given to 413 nonprofits of all sizes, including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Washington National Opera (through the Cafritz Young Artists of Washington National Opera program), the Phillips Collection, the National Gallery of Art, and countless colleges, universities,and schools throughout the DC area. In the last half-century, the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation has awarded more than $507 million in grants. His faith was great enough to lead him into investments that would later seem visionary: He developed the Temple Heights tract at Connecticut and Florida, for example, buying the land in 1945 with developer Charles H. Tompkins and sitting on it for 12 years before selling the northern part for development of the Washington Hilton, and building the two Universal Buildings on the southern part of the site. "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. She is survived by her daughter Jane Cafritz (Calvin) of Washington, DC, five grandchildren: James Speyer, Irina Rubenstein and . 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. Cafritz exemplified what it means to be an inspirational leader and a great human being, said Pyatybratova. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. 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. That's why her final victory rather delighted me. Food has always been a go-to for people in mourning. He's truly out to make a big impact on the city, I think. Cafritz Calvin Cafritz Washington developer and one of the region's leading philanthropists, died Thursday morning, January 12, 2023, at Sibley Memorial Hospital, in Washington, DC. She retained the right to will awaythe remaining three-quarters, or $63 million, which sheleft to the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. "Conrad was persistent as hell in getting that project," says one person familiar with Conrad's business. Rachel was a daughter of the late Abraham and Chierney Yarowsky. Funeral arrangement under the care ofSAGEL BLOOMFIELD DANZANSKY GOLDBERG FUNERAL CARE INC. It is hard not to wonder what the effect might have been of hearing Gwendolyn Cafritz's will read for the first time. "I know Atlas hates publicity like poison," says Raymond Carter, a former Cafritz Co. vice president. ON JUNE 10, 1986, GWENDOLYN D. CAFRITZ GAVE HER LAST PARTY. Cafritz started by investing in real estate, and was always ready to make a prescient purchase, but his true passion was construction. But maybe they just don't want Gwen Cafritz to have the last word. 2017-2023 Tribute Archive. All rights reserved. An old friend remembers a Fourth of July party at which one or more of the boys stood in a window above the path that led indoors from the pool to the cocktail area, throwing firecrackers down onto the guests. 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. CALVIN FRITZ OBITUARY Wyoming - Calvin "Roger" Fritz, 69, of Wyoming, passed away at 5:29 p.m. Friday, December 24, 2021 at his home. Cafritz Calvin Cafritz Washington developer and one of the region's leading philanthropists, died Thursday morning, January 12, 2023, at Sibley Memorial Hospital, in Washington, DC. (His first wife, Jennifer, has since married Laughlin Phillips, son of Duncan and Marjorie Phillips and president of the Phillips Collection.). 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. GECS offers business development, bid proposal writing training, and resume preparation services for individuals seeking employment with the Federal Government, and provides knowledge management services to assist businesses with succession planning. For him, philanthropy required partnerships that are broad, diverse, and extensive. In 1904, with a $1,400 loan from his father, he started out running a coal yard at Fourth and K streets NW, then a saloon near Fourth and O. So he began buying real estate speculatively, and in 1920 opened a real estate office on 15th Street NW. Calvins father Morris built the now-demolished Ambassador Hotel at 14. and K Streets NW, homes next to the National Arboretum, the Greenwich Forest neighborhood in Bethesda and several office buildings downtown. There are no events scheduled. D.C. developer, businessman and philanthropist Calvin Cafritz, the eldest son of real estate icon Morris Cafritz and his wife Gwendolyn, died Thursday at Sibley Memorial Hospital. "He's creative, he's smart, also ambitious, like his father. Calvin Cafritz Obituary It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Calvin Cafritz (Rockville, Maryland), who passed away on January 12, 2023, at the age of 91, leaving to mourn family and friends. All of their lives, the Cafritz boys have been aware of their status as the sons of Morris and Gwendolyn. "Maybe we try a little harder because our family name is well-known," he told a reporter in 1965. But he's much different from his father, in a lot of ways. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. They have helped us to be innovative and to expand. 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. That's what we call a success story. Then there is the charitable legacy. The foundation is Washington's largest source of private funds earmarked exclusively for local projects, large enough to give the person who controls it a potentially shaping influence on the city. Another longtime beneficiary of Cafritz Foundation support has been The Textile Museum. All three stayed in Washington to work at some variation of their father's trade. After Morris Cafritz died, his close associate Martin Atlas became executive vice president of the company, and vice president and treasurer of the Cafritz Foundation, while Gwendolyn Cafritz ultimately became president of both. And even then, there was always fussing. Even her friends laughed at the way she would seat herself intently in the lobby of the Paris Hotel in Monte Carlo, at a table "very strategically placed," in the words of one, to court the passing society. He was 91. "He's part of a legendary family, and he's the only one who seems interested in keeping up the legend," says one friend. A unique and lasting tribute for a loved one. In 1971, he resigned from the company amid reports of conflict with his mother, and by the time she wrote a 1977 will, all three sons, including Calvin, had been dealt out of any inheritance. Receive obituaries from the city or cities of your choice. Her gown, as in the past, was spectacularly formal: folds of purple satin sweeping to her ankles beneath a fitted bodice. It's surprising how much a musical selection can affect mourning. To Martin Atlas, she left $50,000 and a Chagall painting. Among the guests that June evening were her three sons, Calvin, Carter and Conrad. Its annual reports list a fairly traditional, staid set of beneficiaries, and its grants are studied by an advisory board heavily weighted toward the kind of high-profile, high-society arts philanthropy that Gwendolyn favored: Among the members are National Gallery of Art Director J. Carter Brown, retired Smithsonian secretary S. Dillon Ripley and retired librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin, as well Carolyn Deaver, wife of former White House deputy chief of staff Michael K. Deaver, and a social friend of Gwendolyn's, Mrs. Tazewell Shepard. But its true targets are two longtime advisers who are executors of her estate: Martin Atlas, for decades the closest business associate of both Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz, and William P. Rogers, the former attorney general and secretary of state who was Gwendolyn's personal attorney. ", 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. In the 21st century, it's not just urns and gravestones anymore. ", Gwendolyn reportedly raised her children according to the dictates of her European background -- under the aegis of servants, to be seen and not heard. Memorial services will be held at 2:00 pm on December 2 at First Presbyterian Church of Richardson with David Schaefers officiating. Her two younger sons have also filed a separate petition that pursues only the marital trust. The house was not so much well-tended as beautifully preserved, arrested in time; and the party duplicated the past in every anachronistic detail. A minor but colorful part of Cafritz's legacy was an idea borrowed from Harry Wardman, his predecessor as the leader of the field. His father, Morris, established one of the Washington region's leading philanthropic entities, the Morris and . The judge's decision, though in favor of Conrad and Carter Cafritz, is of little. Mr. Cafritz began his career with Cafritz Construction Company in 1947. Site design by, D.C. developer and head of the Cafritz Foundation. In plain English, Gwendolyn Cafritz's two younger sons are contending in court that their mother was too feebleminded to write her will; document requests filed in court suggest they may try to prove she was incapacitated by alcoholism. It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Calvin Cafritz (Rockville, Maryland), who passed away on January 12, 2023, at the age of 91, leaving to mourn family and friends. 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. When Morris Cafritz died in 1964, his estate was worth $66 million, mostly in the form of stock in dozens of closely held corporations he had established to manage his real estate. In the '70s she became a near-recluse. Dean Liesl Riddle of the GW College of Professional Studies (CPS), where GW CEPL has been housed since 2005, said, Our college was launched to make an economic and social impact through innovative professional programs that cultivate talent for employers and propel students careers forward. Click here for full story from WTOP and the Washington Business Journal. Mr. Cafritz recognized and championed this work, and its success is a part of his inspiring legacy., Throughout the years, he gave feedback constructively and in a helpful manner, said Jim Robinson, executive director of GW CEPL. She set aside bequests for two nephews ($35,000 each); a former company employee, Dorothy Casey ($10,000); and four former servants (two bequests of $50,000 and two of $25,000). Finally, there is an emotional legacy to be earned -- or perhaps shed. 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. But he believes her drinking was a source of family discord. There are no events at this time. 1050 30th St. NW The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation is already, with its more than $220 million in assets, the largest source of private funds earmarked for the District of Columbia. All rights reserved. Marvin LaVerne Katz, 83, of Dallas, Texas, passed away on November 22, 2019 in Dallas. . Aubinoe and Edwards also designed the Cafritzes' dramatic house on Foxhall Road. James Edward Cafritz <p>James Edward Cafritz of Bethesda, MD, passed away on Tuesday, December 22, 2020, at the age of 90. Small grants went to 15 more Jewish charities, and the rest to such local charities as boys clubs and hospital funds. Gwendolyn Cafritz, a leading Washington hostess, died of cancer Tuesday at her home in the capital. In 2001, the Cafritz Foundation gave $1 million toward the Cafritz Conference Center in the University Student Center. Recommend Calvin's obituary to your friends. In Remembrance. 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. David Kessler's top 4 tips for dealing with holiday grief. The George Washington University community is remembering the life of Calvin Cafritz, a businessman, philanthropist and longtime supporter of GW. Operating under his own banner, Calvin Cafritz Enterprises, he has built both residential and commercial buildings in D.C. and Virginia. For another, he is said to alternate in seconds between a manic intensity and a mumbling diffidence. 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." Most of the band's song titles are too profane for citation in mainstream reviews (or newspaper magazines such as this); one, a song that would surely have outraged the vocalist/guitarist's grandparents, is titled "You Look Like a Jew.". But it has that air of a property just turning past ripeness, toward seed. If you know of an upcoming event for Calvin Cafritz, please add one. And given the life she had lived and the kind of friends she had cultivated, few people were close enough to her to understand why. The same plain white damask draped the table, with plain white damask napkins tied around settings of her heavy Georg Jensen flatware. Mr. Cafritz said that the awards are designed to "shine a light on the contributions of extraordinary government employees. Cafritz was a tireless promoter of the city. "The boys used to make a joke of their mother. 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. . He often conveyed his conviction that believing in a cause obligated one to support it financially. Cafritzs passing was confirmed by the charitable organization named after Morris and his wife, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. Perhaps as a result, he works hard, with much of Morris's old drive. ", The Cafritzes slept in separate bedrooms, Morris rising at dawn to get to the office. They're not a map to follow, but simply a description of what people commonly feel. Tech Tip: How to Turn Documents and Images into PDFs in Android. 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. Beginning with single-family houses, moving on to apartment houses and office buildings, he managed to dodge the Depression and was well positioned to preside over the city's transforming boom during and after World War II (see box, Page 20). He and his wife, Jane, and the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation have made major contributions to the city of Washington, DC and the region. "I think it has the clean linear design of a Botticelli, and the elegance of an English portrait," she burbles, in her faintly accented great-lady voice, "and that's the way I would like my children to remember me. Where he was meat and potatoes, earnest frugality, civic pride, she was flashing dark beauty, mercurial moods and social ambition. He was 91. "The decanter always had to be full," Dowling says. Conrad is angrily aware, say friends, that his success will always be explained away. 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 lieu of flowers, please consider making a contribution to a charity of your choice. . 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. A memorial service will be held at a later date. There is, for example, the very palpable legacy of real estate developed by Morris Cafritz, including several lots and office buildings downtown. Echovita Inc is a registered trademark. Grief researchers say holding that missing funeral service, even a year or more later, can still help us heal. 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 . 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. 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. 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. Only between the lines or in conversations with old friends can one make out how nakedly she wore her ambitions, and how hard she was working to measure up. "Decedent's condition deteriorated after the death of her husband in 1964 and grew worse in the following years. "There were moments when you wanted to go around and have everybody wear not just a name tag, but a bio,"says their good friend Margaret Lenzner. Required fields are marked *. . G Guest 4 hours ago Comment Share T The staff at Sagel Bloomfield Danzansky Goldberg Funeral Care Inc a day ago We plant this tree as a living memorial to Calvin. (91 years old). Then there is the foundation itself, with its powerful endowment for the city. Chances are, many Washingtonians might not even realize how much real estate the Cafritz family is responsible for in the area. His father, one of Washington's leading commercial and residential builders from the early 1920's to the 1960's, distinguished himself as an outstanding civic leader known for generosity. (202) 338-4833, Georgetown Media Group. Recognizably brothers, the youngest of them nearing his fifties, they were a striking presence at the party. And he still fights his battles with a surprising intensity, rarely bothering with the shake-hands-and-forget-it bonhomie common in Washington 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. Calvin, 58, who finds himself a defendant in this lawsuit, is usually described as gentlemanly, methodical and reserved. To offer your sympathy during this difficult time, you can now have memorial trees planted in a National Forest in memory of your loved one. Calvin Cafritz Washington developer and one of the region's leading philanthropists, died Thursday morning, January 12, 2023, at Sibley Memorial Hospital, in Washington, DC. 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. If she gave them an order, they took it lightly, because she liked to drink. Calvins brother Carter passed away in 2019. Information and advice to help you cope with the death of someone important to you. "That what she wanted was pointless is not for us to judge.". So if some of these nostalgic callers had once doubted or mocked her, with her grand house and her grand airs and her husband's enormous fortune, it was surely too late, in 1986, for any of these social acquaintances to want to shatter this fading legend. For some people, the best send-off is one that they would have loved to attendthemselves: a big party. And {Gwendolyn} was just considered comical, and there were a lot of jokes about her. Unless you are experienced as an estate executor, you probably should hire an attorney. Rogers had served as her personal attorney since her husband, Washington real estate magnate Morris Cafritz, died in 1964. ", She kept up appearances even in the privacy of her home, where she drank Scotch from a decanter in the living room. Ridgewell's had produced, out of retirement, the same waiter who had announced the guests eight years before. Roger was born on September 30, 1952 in Toulon, the son. "Watch Washington Grow to One Million," he urged in newspaper ads of the '40s, a slogan he changed to "Watch Washington Grow to Two Million" after the 1950 census counted more than 1.4 million in the metropolitan area. It is hard to imagine, in this competitive atmosphere, that a single person could have dominated the field as Morris Cafritz once did. Home It is, as always, unclear where her inborn quirkiness shaded into the effects of alcoholism; but many of her friends, in later years, simply came to think of her as "difficult" or "eccentric"; Almost everyone has a story about her forgetting their names, or making some sudden comment of shocking rudeness. ", Today, he still combats a version of that assumption, pithily summed up by one detractor in this way: "You don't have to be Albert Einstein to take money and make additional money in real estate." And it is over the foundation, established to memorialize the name and works of the Cafritz family, that the Cafritz family is now at war. Calvin Cafritz, D.C. developer and head of the Cafritz Foundation, dies at 91. bizjournals.com - Michael Neibauer 20h. The strange paradox of her marriage was that Morris's money enabled her to carry out her lavish social dreams, while the family's being Jewish also placed limits on her chances of realizing them. Meanwhile, for as long as it takes, Conrad's childhood home turns a sleeping face to Foxhall Road, drapes drawn at all the windows. "I think he went along," says a longtime business associate, Irwin Altman. With support from the Cafritz Foundation, the Center for Excellence in Public Leadership hosts a yearly awards gala to honor D.C. government employees who demonstrate outstanding public service. The importance of saying "I love you" during COVID-19, Effective ways of dealing with the grieving process, Solutions to show your sympathy safely during the Covid-19 pandemic, SAGEL BLOOMFIELD DANZANSKY GOLDBERG FUNERAL CARE INC. Yet he uncomplainingly supported all of Gwendolyn's efforts, and was said to adore his colorful bride. He was 91 at the time he died. That task was left to her closest relatives. Kateryna Pyatybratova directs the centers Cafritz Awards program. As the hostess had asked, Ridgewell's Caterers heaped the silver platters and chafing dishes with the same filling, fusty food -- the whole poached salmon, the ham and turkey and carved tenderloin; none of the pastas or blackened seafood or grilled vegetables then in fashion. 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. No one needed to be told that this was Gwendolyn Cafritz's last hurrah. It is a secretive organization: The foundation would answer no questions for this article. 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.
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