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. She retained the right to will awaythe remaining three-quarters, or $63 million, which sheleft to the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. Influence over the city's future -- no doubt. 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. Read more on bizjournals.com. "With so-called friends all around her, she was a very lonely woman," says Dowling. In high school, for example, Conrad stood out even among his privileged classmates at St. Albans. (Conrad and Peggy were both involved in Barry's first election campaign, and Peggy is the godmother of Barry's son, Christopher.) including, but not limited to, any facilities located in Washington, D.C.; Palm Beach, Florida; or Monte Carlo, Monaco." The house on Foxhall Road, completed in 1938, was explicitly designed to fulfill that ambition. If you know of an upcoming event for Calvin Cafritz, please add one. Calvin, 58, who finds himself a defendant in this lawsuit, is usually described as gentlemanly, methodical and reserved. An obituary is not available at this time for Calvin Cafritz. He was 91. 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. Mr. But Gwendolyn sometimes took pains to tell friends that she herself was not Jewish. 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. The best poems for funerals, memorial services., and cards. Between 1925 and 1941, Cafritz built more than 85 apartment houses, including 15 large luxury buildings, such as the Majestic and the Hightowers on 16th Street NW and the Westchester on Cathedral Avenue NW. 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 . The same plain white damask draped the table, with plain white damask napkins tied around settings of her heavy Georg Jensen flatware. At seated dinners for 22, she entertained ambassadors and justices, senators and Cabinet secretaries. Calvin Cafritz, D.C. developer, businessman and philanthropist has died "I just thought she maybe had had enough of running around, and she was maybe going to stay in a while. Leave a sympathy message to the family in the guestbook on this memorial page of Calvin Cafritz to show support. Calvin R Cafritz, (202) 223-3100, 1642 29th St NW, Washington, DC 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. "I know Atlas hates publicity like poison," says Raymond Carter, a former Cafritz Co. vice president. He was an excellent listener and always got both the big picture and important details by asking insightful questions. There he built the massive River House apartments; his estate eventually sold most of the land for others to develop. Cafritz was a tireless promoter of the city. She was multilingual and had studied art history at the University of Budapest. Nor, apparently, is it for us to judge what her sons now want from a D.C. Superior Court judge: All three declined to beinterviewed. From the others he solicited their names, bending to murmur prompts into the ear of the star. Yet he uncomplainingly supported all of Gwendolyn's efforts, and was said to adore his colorful bride. 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. "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. January 16, 2023, 1:16 AM 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. Remembering Calvin Cafritz - Meyer Foundation But it was hard to remember, here, the titanic social ambition that had made her what she was. . A unique and lasting tribute for a loved one. The foundation's board of trustees consisted of Gwendolyn Cafritz and the two men who would become her executors -- Atlas and William P. Rogers, her attorney. . They had a large fund-raiser for Jesse Jackson in 1988, and for Conrad's 50th birthday, Peggy gave him an enormous black-tie dinner at home. He also is a director. We will miss his gracious and generous presence.. Under the terms of an old agreement, each of the sons will automatically receive $7 million, tax-free, in recompense for having forfeited, in the late '60s, some money from a different trust. Her hair was still a lacquered black, heavily dressed as always at the back of her head. Thanks to the support of the Cafritz Foundation for the last 25 years, CEPL has supported organizational transformation across the public sector in the city. She was a member of Main Street Church of Christ in Monticello, AR. . Calvin, Carter and Conrad, all of Washington, and 13 grandchildren. It is easy to imagine that for a son of Morris Cafritz, watching great deals go unmade is a kind of hell. 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.". To slip out of the speedy traffic on Foxhall Road into the half-circle driveway was to slip back in time. When the Duke and Duchess of Windsor came and danced downstairs in "the Club," with the dance floor lighted from below. One quarter to be divided among his sons, in trusts they would inherit outright at age 35. "He's always very, very protective of the Cafritz name, as if it were his own. ", She gave only two parties in the last 15 years of her life -- one in 1978, her first in five years, and the final party in 1986. "Getting along with her," says one developer who knows the family, "was something none of them ever mastered. Cafritz Family Obituaries | Cafritz Last Name Obits 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.". In particular, he has carried on an epic feud with Herbert S. Miller, chairman of Western Development Corp. Western won a city contract in 1985 to develop the so-called Portals site at the foot of the 14th Street Bridge, potentially the largest commercial development in the city. And {Gwendolyn} was just considered comical, and there were a lot of jokes about her. 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. All of their lives, the Cafritz boys have been aware of their status as the sons of Morris and Gwendolyn. He often conveyed his conviction that believing in a cause obligated one to support it financially. Gwendolyn Cafritz, a leading Washington hostess, died of cancer Tuesday at her home in the capital. 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. Special Neighborhood Hang Out: Say Cheese! At the same time, he and Tompkins had the foresight to buy the land now known as Pentagon City. That's why her final victory rather delighted me. But maybe they just don't want Gwen Cafritz to have the last word. Morris Cafritz is remembered more for the quantity than for the aesthetic quality of his works. He warmly greeted staff and fellow philanthropist alike, making no distinction between people. Jane Lipton Cafritz was elected in the second half of 2022 to succeed her husband as the foundations president and CEO. Conrad, who was a losing bidder for the job, waged a lengthy challenge, arguing that Western was giving short shrift to the minority partners whose participation qualified the partnership for the contract award; though he finally lost last year, he succeeded in forcing a renegotiation of terms between Western and the Redevelopment Land Agency. 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. Washington Life Magazine: June 2007:WEALTH LIST ", Other documents filed in court indicate that the sons will argue their mother was incapacitated by alcoholism. 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. In the '70s she became a near-recluse. Calvin Cafritz Obituary For one thing, he has a dark, avowedly cynical sense of humor. Throughout the '40s and '50s it was her custom to give a large cocktail reception each spring, and to mark the opening of every fall season with a party honoring the start of the Supreme Court term. A memorial service will be held at a later date. In addition, there are at least 10 apartment buildings in D.C. Conrad, say friends, has watched in frustration as downtown Washington boomed and the foundation failed to take maximum advantage of its holdings. The most famous of these was the Cafritz Building, at 1625 I; ballyhooed in 1950 as the first "park-at-your-desk" building, it had ramps rising 10 stories at the building's core. "Calvin is a very sweet, very nice person," says D.C. lawyer Max N. Berry. 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. At the time the lawsuit was filed, family sources told The Washington Post that the marital trust was worth $84 million. Senator Barry Goldwater . 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. Calvin Cafritz, their eldest son, became Board Chairman in 1989 and in 1993, he was elected President and CEO of the Foundation. 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." 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. Click here for full story from WTOP and the Washington Business Journal. Obituary | Betty Colvin of Warren, Arkansas | Frazer's Funeral Home 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. January 12, 2023 James Edward Cafritz <p>James Edward Cafritz of Bethesda, MD, passed away on Tuesday, December 22, 2020, at the age of 90. Her statements in the press, even the adoring press of yore, suggest at the least a daunting mother. "I think he went along," says a longtime business associate, Irwin Altman. But almost no one noticed what seemed apparent to Gore Vidal, in brief glimpses of her during the '60s: "Toward the end {of the decade}, she was always drunk whenever I saw her. Calvins father Morris built the now-demolished Ambassador Hotel at 14th and K Streets NW, homes next to the National Arboretum, the Greenwich Forest neighborhood in Bethesda and several office buildings downtown. Their complaint challenges her wish to leave all she owned, except for minor bequests, to the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, a charitable trust her husband had established 40 years before. Her two younger sons have also filed a separate petition that pursues only the marital trust. Mr. Cafritz is also survived by his brother Conrad Cafritz. He is a leading supporter of the Global India Fund, and the Ukapav Indian-American Scholarship Foundation. Calvins brother Carter passed away in 2019. 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. Home . He started by buying -- for $700,000, in 1922 -- the equivalent of 90 city blocks in Petworth, including the Columbia Golf Club, and ultimately built 3,000 houses there. Some basic help and starters when you have to write a tribute to someone you love. Marvin Katz Obituary - Richardson, TX - Dignity Memorial 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. 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. No one needed to be told that this was Gwendolyn Cafritz's last hurrah. 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. They have helped us to be innovative and to expand. It charges that Rogers and Atlas "exerted undue influence" on her decision to leave all her money to the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, and that Gwendolyn herself "lacked testamentary capacity," meaning that she was incapable of writing her will. "Right at the moment he could be most charming, he does something to undercut it," says one friend. He will always be remembered and loved by our team and the thousands of people whose lives he touched for his humility, kindness and willingness to go above and beyond in service of our great city and community.. But he reached outside that circle when he finally married. 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. His commitment to causes and institutions extended beyond writing checks to giving time and energy. JAMES CAFRITZ Obituary (1930 - 2020) - Rockville, DC - The Washington Post 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. Echovita Inc is a registered trademark. In Remembrance. The "Cafritz" in the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists Program. There are no events at this time. There is a poignant moment in Gwendolyn's 1956 interview with Murrow when she points out a portrait of herself that hangs on the wall. 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. Calvin Cafritz, D.C. developer and head of the Cafritz Foundation, dies 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. 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. (91 years old). They're more like the French salons.". He has interests too in a booming brokerage firm he helped bankroll, and in a Midwestern shopping-center conglomerate. He too has denied the sons' allegations in his formal answer to their complaint. Yet in Morris's absence, the family was anything but the tight-knit dynasty he had paved the way for. He was 91 years of. But she had a disconcertingly self-serious way of advertising it. . We welcome you to provide your thoughts and memories on our Tribute Wall. The entire time, he fought with gloves off, publicly charging his rivals with bad faith. 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. Betty Lou Roberts Colvin, age 84 of Warren, AR passed away November 5, 2020 at Chapel Woods Nursing Home in Warren, AR. Cafritz was a native and longtime resident of Washington, DC. 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. Add a photo or a video 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. Calvin Cafritz - Rockville, Maryland , Sagel Bloomfield Danzansky It is hard not to wonder what the effect might have been of hearing Gwendolyn Cafritz's will read for the first time. ", Conrad Cafritz is, in a word fondly used by friends, weird. While he was head of the foundation, Cafritz distributed grants to places like The National Gallery of Art, Washington National Opera and The Kennedy Center. In July 1993, he was elected President and CEO of the Foundation and in the last six months became Chairman Emeritus. Cafritzs passing was confirmed by the charitable organization named after Morris and his wife, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. 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. In 1929 he also built the since-demolished Ambassador Hotel, at 14th and K streets NW, where he and his family lived until 1938. Says a friend, "He thinks they're a lot of fuddy-duddies living in the 17th century." 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. Cafritz is survived by Jane, his third wife, who is a lawyer in the area. Calvin Cafritz, a successful businessman, was involved in real estate for more than fifty years. Published by The Washington Post on Jan. 22, 2023. January 2023 - Page 189 - obituaries death 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. Morris was a famously frugal man who used to tell friends he couldn't afford to rent office space in the best of his buildings, and his major vanity, beyond lying about his age, appears to have been combing his pomaded hair over a bald spot at the back. Calvin Fritz Obituary (1952 - 2021) - Legacy Remembers It was an invitation to stroll around the house and remember: When Gwen Cafritz, with her 19-inch waist and Balmain gowns, her raven hair and regal air, had won constant publicity for her parties -- 22 to dinner, with toasts over champagne, and enormous receptions like this one each spring and fall. What do the younger sons of the celebrated Washington hostess hope to gain by waging legal war over their mother's will? 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. Upon Morris Cafritz's death in 1964, he became president of the Cafritz Co.; and in the first will Gwendolyn wrote, in 1969, which included all three sons, she made Calvin an executor and left him the Foxhall Road house. When he died, his estate would be the largest ever probated in the District of Columbia; it would take teams of lawyers and IRS agents four years to settle the estate, finally valued in 1968 at $66 million. Gwendolyn Cafritz died of cancer last November. CALVIN FRITZ OBITUARY Wyoming - Calvin "Roger" Fritz, 69, of Wyoming, passed away at 5:29 p.m. Friday, December 24, 2021 at his home. Mild, self-effacing, decorous, humble, and unfailingly courteous, Mr. Cafritz led by example and always with a smile. "That what she wanted was pointless is not for us to judge.". Devoted father to Laurence (Sherri) Cafritz and Jodi (Mark Bronsky) Cafritz; cherished grandfather to Daniel, Ryan, Jeremy, Jack and Mick; beloved friend of first wife Sandie Cafritz; loving brother to the late William (Buffy) Cafritz; treasured uncle to Sandy (Helen . Calvin's younger brothers, Conrad and Carter, are behind-the- scenes players in many business and charitable ventures players. He was 91. Following the death of his father, Calvin became president of The Cafritz Co., Cafritz Construction Co. and Ambassador, Inc. in 1964. I just make speeches.". Asked in 1954 why all her sons bore two-syllable names beginning with "C," she replied, "Morris names all children, horses, dogs, apartment houses and everything around here. ", The Cafritzes slept in separate bedrooms, Morris rising at dawn to get to the office. But it was a heady enough wine to call out 300 guests, and the ghosts of many more who had preceded them. 2017-2023 Tribute Archive. One quarter to his widow, in a "marital trust" that would pay her interest until her death and give her the power to "appoint" the ultimate heirs to the principal; if she did not exercise this power, the principal would pass to the Cafritzes' sons upon her death. The George Washington University community is remembering the life of Calvin Cafritz, a businessman, philanthropist and longtime supporter of GW. Giving to charity is a meaningful way to honor someone who has died. But he believes her drinking was a source of family discord. Rachel was a daughter of the late Abraham and Chierney Yarowsky. And by 1970, arts and humanities took the largest share of the funding. The family observed Jewish holidays, and the sons attended religious school at Washington Hebrew Congregation on weekends. But of the property over which she had control, Gwendolyn left her children only "such photographs, family mementos, and similar objects of domestic use or ornamentation as my executors, in their absolute discretion, shall determine that I would wish to have preserved for my children.". "I've just bought 100 acres of downtown Washington," he was fond of saying. Mr. Cafritz began his career with Cafritz Construction Company in 1947. 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. Tech Tip: How to Turn Documents and Images into PDFs in Android. The judge's decision, though in favor of Conrad and Carter Cafritz, is of little. Md.-based government contractor relocates headquarters to Fairfax Co. Montgomery County, MD Files Lawsuit Against McKinsey and Company, Inc. for Companys Role in Creating Opioid Epidemic, GSA Seeks Commercial Procurement Data Solution. When he died, his estate was the largest ever probated in the District of Columbia. That task was left to her closest relatives. 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. It has been variously reviewed as "one of the more important bands to emerge from the new head-slamming school of American guitar/noise bands" and "the gnarliest, most scuzzed out molotov to hit the streets since the heady days of Teenage Jesus and The Jerks."