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.". In 1929 he also built the since-demolished Ambassador Hotel, at 14th and K streets NW, where he and his family lived until 1938. "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. Your email address will not be published. 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. Calvins brother Carter passed away in 2019. Old press notices, written in the uncritical fashion of the day, recount her summers in Monte Carlo; her typical day in Washington (beginning with a ride in her limousine -- license number 2301, to match her address -- to the Supreme Court or the Capitol, to take in a decision or an interesting hearing); her winter trips to Palm Beach; her shopping trips in Paris; her ladies lunches at the Mayflower Hotel. In high school, for example, Conrad stood out even among his privileged classmates at St. Albans. There are no events scheduled. 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. Small wonder that, as he approached his forties unmarried, he was one of the most eligible bachelors within the small, closed circle of Washington's Jewish society. Calvin, Carter and Conrad, all of Washington, and 13 grandchildren. Conrad has six children -- three adopted sons, who were Jennifer's by a first marriage; two daughters with Jennifer; and, with Peggy, 5-year-old Zachary. They're not a map to follow, but simply a description of what people commonly feel. He served in these roles until 2022, when Jane Lipton Cafritz, his wife, was elected Board Chair and President and CEO. Atlas too declined to comment, but he issued a statement when the suit was filed saying that he had no role in drafting the will, and no advance knowledge of its contents. 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. Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz were oil and water, a marriage forged out of surprisingly dissonant elements. Send simple, comforting meals with Home Chef. Conrad and Carter Cafritz are pursuing this stake in two ways: One is a lawsuit naming all her beneficiaries and her executors -- William P. Rogers, Martin Atlas and Riggs National Bank. Receive obituaries from the city or cities of your choice. Add a photo or a video Conrad and Carter Cafritz are claiming that Rogers and Atlas "secured domination and control" over Gwendolyn, controlling all of her assets and making her the figurehead president of both the foundation and the real estate businesses, "notwithstanding that she was, and Defendants Atlas and Rogers knew she was, incapable of discharging the duties incumbent upon her in such positions." 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. . He too has denied the sons' allegations in his formal answer to their complaint. Jane Lipton Cafritz was elected in the second half of 2022 to succeed her husband as the foundations president and CEO. "I make no other provision in this will for the benefit of my children," it states, "as their financial needs are adequately provided for" by the old agreement giving them $7 million each. Morris had one vision, and Gwendolyn another; whoever now gains control might offer still a third. "With so-called friends all around her, she was a very lonely woman," says Dowling. "I've just bought 100 acres of downtown Washington," he was fond of saying. "I just thought she maybe had had enough of running around, and she was maybe going to stay in a while. One possible reason for that -- and for any bitterness that might motivate the lawsuit -- is suggested by the suit's underlying argument: "For many years, beginning at a time not precisely known to plaintiffs, but at least by the time of the death of the late Morris Cafritz, the Decedent began suffering from a number of conditions that resulted in physical and mental debilitation," reads the complaint. . Since 1989, Cafritz led the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, a charitable organization named for his parents. Rogers, an attorney general under President Eisenhower and secretary of state under Richard Nixon, declined to be interviewed for this story; he has denied the allegations in papers filed in court. The Morris and. He's truly out to make a big impact on the city, I think. 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. Morris Cafritz incorporated the foundation in 1948 to give money to Washington-area charities, and when he died 16 years later, he left it half his estate, mostly as stock in dozens of closely held corporations; as the new majority owner of most of these companies, and with Gwendolyn owning most of the rest, the foundation became in essence the owner of the Cafritz Co., its subsidiaries and its assets. The holdings also include a major share of the two Universal buildings at Connecticut and Florida avenues NW, and shares of the massive River House apartment buildings in Pentagon City. Morris Cafritz is remembered more for the quantity than for the aesthetic quality of his works. 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). ", Interviews suggest the sons will not lack for evidence to support their argument. But maybe they just don't want Gwen Cafritz to have the last word. Today, Calvin is foundation chairman. If she gave them an order, they took it lightly, because she liked to drink. 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. Mr. Cafritz' grace, elegance, discernment, desire for excellence, and commitment to making the most of every day and every situation will continue to inspire and motivate all who knew and loved him. The foundation, which Calvin led for over 30 years (after his mother Gwendolyn died in 1988), focuses on programs in the arts and humanities. There is no photo or video of Calvin Cafritz.Be the first to share a memory to pay tribute. (202) 338-4833, Georgetown Media Group. Washington, DC 20007 But it has that air of a property just turning past ripeness, toward seed. "Conrad is really an anomaly," says lawyer and real estate developer Donald Brown. Grief researchers say holding that missing funeral service, even a year or more later, can still help us heal. James Edward Cafritz <p>James Edward Cafritz of Bethesda, MD, passed away on Tuesday, December 22, 2020, at the age of 90. All three had become local real estate developers, successful, if less spectacular, emulators of their father. 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. Papers filed in court by his sons' lawyers say he was born in 1888; his gravestone says 1890, which would have made him only 14 when he started his business career. Rachel M. Ratowsky, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Tuesday, February 2, 2021. The singers belonged to the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists Program (YAP), one of the opera world's most prestigious breeding grounds for the next generation of Pavarottis and Renee . He was an excellent listener and always got both the big picture and important details by asking insightful questions. She had not given a party for eight years, and even then, she had been memorializing the past; the real tradition, the old wine being decanted on this lambent June evening, had been decades in storage. ", Gwendolyn reportedly raised her children according to the dictates of her European background -- under the aegis of servants, to be seen and not heard. The house on Foxhall Road, completed in 1938, was explicitly designed to fulfill that ambition. Another asks the bank to produce "all documents relating to purchase or provision of wine, champagne, or liquor on behalf of or for Gwendolyn Cafritz or for delivery to or consumption at 2301 Foxhall Road. Senator Barry Goldwater . 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. And by 1970, arts and humanities took the largest share of the funding. This suit asks the court to overturn her will, after which, under D.C. law, her property would be divided among her sons. I hope they will. A document filed in probate court says an initial inventory of her own property exceeded $90 million; however, inventories filed with her will account only for a little more than $80 million. 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. "The decanter always had to be full," Dowling says. Cafritzs encouragement has particularly strengthened the Washington-area communitys appreciation of textiles as a vital form of artistic expression and global cultural heritage.". "He just wanted to build, build, build, build!" He was 91. Among the guests that June evening were her three sons, Calvin, Carter and Conrad. What kind of arrangement is appropriate, where should you send it, and when should you send an alternative? Finally, there is the legacy contained in any will: The power to reward or to punish the living, to define or rearrange the narrative of a family's history. 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. Gradually, as Gwendolyn took command of it, its character changed. Ymelda Dixon, who covered many of her parties for the Evening Star, recalls, "They were great parties, because she had the means and the imagination. But they also sort of outraged people." They charge in their suit that Rogers and Atlas influenced her to leave all the property she controlled to the foundation. "Old Washington was very antisemitic, as you know," continues Vidal, whose childhood here as the stepson of lawyer and investor Hugh D. Auchincloss and the grandson of Oklahoma Sen. Thomas Gore gave him an intimate education in Washington society. The same plain white damask draped the table, with plain white damask napkins tied around settings of her heavy Georg Jensen flatware. He was 91. In May, Jane Lipton Cafritz hosted a lunch that brought together a number of young opera singers and many of their supporters and admirers. 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. What do Conrad and Carter Cafritz hope to gain from an arduous legal proceeding that already involves at least 12 law firms and threatens to stretch on for years? Prepare a personalized obituary for someone you loved.. March 29, 1931 - Conrad's strategy has been diversity. When the Duke and Duchess of Windsor came and danced downstairs in "the Club," with the dance floor lighted from below. CAFRITZ James Edward Cafritz James Edward Cafritz of Bethesda, MD, passed away on Tuesday, December 22, 2020, at the age of 90. His commitment to causes and institutions extended beyond writing checks to giving time and energy. By the time of her death, however, Calvin was still the son closest to his mother. Cafritz is survived by Jane, his third wife, who is a lawyer in the area. Money -- to be sure. . Because Gwendolyn's estate has not been probated, its value is hard to establish. He was "greatly respected and liked, even in an antisemitic society," recalls Dixon. 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. The mission of the foundation is improving the quality of life for all Washington, D.C., metropolitan-area residents, Boerstling said. "Conrad was persistent as hell in getting that project," says one person familiar with Conrad's business. 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. Distinguished D.C. Government Employees Recognized at Cafritz Awards Gala, Office of Communications & Marketing "I think he went along," says a longtime business associate, Irwin Altman. Special Neighborhood Hang Out: Say Cheese! ", While she cultivated the mighty, Morris looked closer to home, helping to found the Washington Community Chest, becoming an activist in local Jewish groups. "Very sort of philosophic, sort of honorable." Of the three sons, Calvin seems to have had the best relationship with his mother. ", As is often true when the secretive disease of alcoholism is combined with the see-no-evil sociability of Washington, Gwendolyn's problem was rarely recognized. But he's much different from his father, in a lot of ways. There are hints too that he has social ambitions on Gwendolyn's scale, if not exactly of her type. It took lawyers and IRS agents 4 years to settle the estate, which was valued in 1968 at $66 million. Rogers had served as her personal attorney since her husband, Washington real estate magnate Morris Cafritz, died in 1964. Then there is the foundation itself, with its powerful endowment for the city. What do the younger sons of the celebrated Washington hostess hope to gain by waging legal war over their mother's will? Conrad's strange, and doesn't mind people thinking that he's strange; he kind of encourages it.". 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. In the process, he amassed one of the first great fortunes to be carved out of Washington itself. It is hard to imagine, in this competitive atmosphere, that a single person could have dominated the field as Morris Cafritz once did. CALVIN FRITZ OBITUARY Wyoming - Calvin "Roger" Fritz, 69, of Wyoming, passed away at 5:29 p.m. Friday, December 24, 2021 at his home. Calvin Cafritz began his career with Cafritz Construction in 1947, pausing briefly to attend college and serve in the military. 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. "Carter, he always did what the other two did," says Casey. Today he shares office space and support staff with Conrad's growing interests, but for the most part pursues his own deals. 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. Where he was meat and potatoes, earnest frugality, civic pride, she was flashing dark beauty, mercurial moods and social ambition. 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. 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. Site design by, D.C. developer and head of the Cafritz Foundation. He was elected to the Board of Directors of the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation in December 1988 and since February 1989 had served as Board Chairman. There is still a sign directing deliveries to the back of the house, as if tradesmen were still streaming up to the front door to importune the lady of the house, and Ridgewell's were due at any moment with more shrimp and cocktail sauce. Mild, self-effacing, decorous, humble, and unfailingly courteous, Mr. Cafritz led by example and always with a smile. Cafritzs grace, elegance, discernment, desire for excellence and commitment to making the most of every day and every situation will continue to inspire and motivate all who knew and loved him, his obituary reads. Another longtime beneficiary of Cafritz Foundation support has been The Textile Museum. Says a friend, "He thinks they're a lot of fuddy-duddies living in the 17th century." She was born January 30, 1936 in Kennett, MO to the late David Richard Roberts and Betty Burbank Roberts. Calvin Cafritz Rockville, Maryland March 29, 1931 - January 12, 2023 Share Obituary: Tribute Wall Obituary & Events Share a memory Send Flowers Obituary An obituary is not available at this time for Calvin Cafritz. "Calvin is a very sweet, very nice person," says D.C. lawyer Max N. Berry. Carter appears something of a cipher even to old family associates. At seated dinners for 22, she entertained ambassadors and justices, senators and Cabinet secretaries. Certainly it is Conrad who seems to embody, in one slight frame, the polarities of his parents' lives and personalities. Calvin Cafritz and the Cafritz Foundation have been part of the GW Honey Nashman Center from its earliest roots in the Office of Community Service and the Neighbors Project in the 1990s through to the present, said Amy Cohen, executive director of the center. She was a member of Main Street Church of Christ in Monticello, AR. 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. "She was a classic case," summarizes Vidal. I just make speeches.". And to the publicity-loathing cave dwellers, the Georgetown hostesses who were society leaders by birth, Gwendolyn's so-visible efforts made her a figure of fun. To Edward R. Murrow, in a 1956 interview, she said that to speak of Washington cocktail parties was "unfair to Washington. Betty Lou Roberts Colvin, age 84 of Warren, AR passed away November 5, 2020 at Chapel Woods Nursing Home in Warren, AR.
