Established in 2025, the Jeri J. Masters Carob Tree Fund honors a remarkable life while strengthening expert services for people with disabilities. Jeri J. Masters z”l lived a life of intellectual curiosity, creativity, resilience, and care for those around her. A college physics major who left school to marry and raised three children, Jeri had rich musical talent and devoted time to Jewish and other causes. Once her children were older, Jeri returned to college, eager to begin studies in sociology. “My mother had a keen interest in people throughout her life,” says her daughter, Nancy Masters. “She saw people’s… Read More

Richard “Dick” Segal recognizes the importance of investing in the future. A San Francisco investment advisor since the 1980s, Dick’s professional perspective and commitment to community service have helped shape his philanthropic decisions. He was an early champion of JFCS’ efforts to build an endowment fund to sustain critical human services and education programs. Dick and his wife, Dorothy Connelly, have generously shared their talents, time, and resources over decades to strengthen our community and care for those in need. A JFCS volunteer since the 1980s, Dick’s financial acumen and strategic perspective during his tenure on the Board of Directors,… Read More

When asked about the secret to her long life, Hilda Richards once said, “I am definitely an optimist, and I think that has helped me very much.” Hilda, a true gem of our community, passed away in April 2022 at the age of 104. A resident of San Francisco for more than 84 years, Hilda was a survivor of the Holocaust. She arrived in San Francisco from Germany in 1938 with just $10, joining her sister, who had emigrated two years prior. The sisters remained close throughout their lives. Known for her joie de vivre, Hilda was part of the… Read More

Yvonne and Ernest Schneider z”l wed in Homewood Terrace’s synagogue in 1951, surrounded by friends they had made in the children’s home. Ernest was six years old when his widowed mother, unable to make ends meet during the Great Depression, brought him to live at Homewood Terrace on San Francisco’s Ocean Avenue. The campus for children in need would become his cherished home, where he would make lifelong friends, deepen his connection with his family’s Jewish heritage, and even meet the love of his life. Founded in 1872 as the Pacific Hebrew Orphan Asylum and Home Society and renamed in… Read More

The S. Portia Steele Memorial Scholarship for Jewish Women provides an annual scholarship for qualified Jewish women pursuing an academic degree in creative writing, English, or journalism. When Portia Steele died in 2005 her husband, Dennis Steele, chose to memorialize his beloved friend and wife of 40 years by establishing a Named Endowment Fund at JFCS in her honor. During her writing career in Burlingame, California, Portia was the founder and instructor of Women on Writing©, a seminar for published writers sponsored by the Daly City Senior Center. Between 1992 and 2002, as the Center’s facilitator, she helped scores of… Read More

The Rabin Family Memorial Endowment Fund helps wherever the community’s needs are the greatest, today and in years to come. The Rabin family originally established their named endowment fund in 2004 in loving memory of their mother, Anne Simon Rabin. When Anne’s daughter Cathy died in 2007, the fund’s name and description were modified to memorialize her as well. Anne Simon was born in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, in 1919. Her first husband, Murray Weiss, died during World War II, leaving Anne with an infant daughter. Showing remarkable courage, Anne took her daughter cross-country to California and started anew. Several… Read More