Elinor and Eugene Friend z”l set an incredible example of philanthropy for their children. Through their involvement with various organizations in the community, Elly and Gene showed their deep connection to their home and their heritage. Their story spans more than a century. As an Eastern European Jewish immigrant in New York City around the end of the 19th century, Gene’s father was drawn to the western frontier, a place without barriers or discrimination. Elly moved to California from El Paso, Texas, and met Gene while attending UC Berkeley. The couple married in 1940 and started a family. Though the… Read More

Daryl Messinger’s collaboration with Jewish Family and Children’s Services started decades ago. Shortly after she and Jim Heeger joined Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos in the early 1990s, Daryl quickly heeded the call to service. At that time, Beth Am had partnered with JFCS to help resettle and acculturate emigres from the former Soviet Union, and Daryl chaired the congregation’s emigre committee. In 1998, Paul Resnick recruited Daryl onto JFCS’ board of directors and by 1999 she was board treasurer, then vice president from 2002 through 2005. Both Daryl and Jim found inspiration to serve their community and to… Read More

Anita and Ronald z”l Wornick sat for this interview in 2014. May his memory be for a blessing. Over many years, Ronald and Anita Wornick touched the worlds of art, medical research, education, and Jewish philanthropy through gifts that made a difference in the lives of many. But few of their gifts have meant as much to them personally as the Harry & Florence Wornick Endowment Fund for Youth Loans, which they established at JFCS as a tribute to Ron’s parents. The fund supports the education of promising students. “My reverence for my father is beyond containment,” said Ron, a… Read More

It was the joy that a particular JFCS program brought to her father’s life that prompted Joyce Newstat, along with her spouse, Susan Lowenberg, to establish a Named Endowment Fund in his loving memory. The Seymour Newstat Endowment Fund makes distributions each year to support the Annual Seymour Newstat Passover Seders for participants of JFCS’ Café by the Bay program for Holocaust survivors. Joyce recalls that her father did not talk much about his life during World War II—which included time in a work camp, from which he’d later escape. As he aged, he began to share more about his… Read More

Philanthropist Bill Lowenberg z”l, who survived Auschwitz, spent much of his life educating children, grandchildren, and countless others about the lessons of the Holocaust. Two years after his death, the JFCS Holocaust Center renamed its survivor speaker program as the William J. Lowenberg Speakers Bureau, in tribute to his legacy of courage and leadership. “It was very important to my father that young people understand the Holocaust and that they never forget. He saw the impact that eyewitness testimonies had on students,” says Susan Lowenberg, Bill’s daughter. In tribute to her father, Susan and her spouse, Joyce Newstat, dedicated… Read More

The Mitzi and Adolf Wilner Memorial Fund was established by Susan Wilner Golden in loving memory of her parents. Adolf and Mitzi were married in Lvov, Poland, on November 28, 1944, having survived the last few years of the war together. Adolf had immigrated to Palestine in 1934, and returned to Poland in the summer of 1939 to attend a family wedding. With the outbreak of the war, he was caught in Poland, unable to return to Tel Aviv. During the war, Adolf was hidden in the basement of a home where Mitzi worked serving meals to German soldiers who… Read More