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Kross Family Gift Benefits Music Students A generous gift from a large Elmhurst College legacy family will fund a new scholarship and purchase new instruments for the College’s Department of Music. The Kross family, which lived in Elmhurst for many years and includes several Elmhurst College alumni, established the $50,000 Kross Family Endowed Scholarship for music majors, and donated $15,000 to the College to purchase instruments. The gifts were from the estates of Theodore Kross ’38 and Robert Kross ’42, lifelong Elmhurst residents and active members of the community. “I am deeply grateful to the Kross family for their generous support of the College through an endowed scholarship and funds for musical instrument upgrades,” said Elmhurst College President S. Alan Ray. “I know Bob and Ted would be very pleased to see what their family is accomplishing on behalf of Elmhurst College.” The Kross brothers died months apart in 2011. Both were bachelors and neither had left an o≈cial will, said Robert Plassman, a nephew of the Kross brothers and the son of Dorothy (Kross) ’39 and Walter Plassman ’38. When family members sorted through documents in the brothers’ house on South Kenilworth Avenue in Elmhurst—the house where they were born—they found handwritten notes from each that described how they wanted proceeds from their estates to be distributed. Theodore Kross’ note was written in 1989 and Robert Kross’ in 1993. While each listed certain entities that should receive parts of their estates, by 2011 some of those no longer existed. Two that did were Elmhurst College and the Elmhurst Historical Society. After Robert Kross’ funeral, nine of his and Theodore’s nephews and nieces met to discuss their uncles’ last wishes. “We as a committee decided that both brothers were strongly supportive of Elmhurst College and the Elmhurst Historical Museum,” Plassman said, and so the group decided to focus the estate proceeds on them. FYI/Spring 2014
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Members of the Kross family meet with College faculty and administrators to celebrate their family’s gift.
During the fall of 2013, the family came to campus from across the nation to announce the gifts. They spent the morning at the College, where they looked through yearbooks for pictures of their family, and talked about their many connections to the school. Not only did Theodore and Robert Kross attend Elmhurst, but so did their sisters, Dorothy and Rosemary. At Elmhurst, the sisters also met the men they would marry: Dorothy Kross married Walter Plassman in 1940, and Rosemary Kross Hilberg ’44 married Albert Hilberg ’44. In addition to the Kross siblings, their father, Michael Kross, attended Elmhurst while studying to become a lawyer. And Claire Drillinger, granddaughter of Dorothy and Walter Plassman, graduated in 2013 with a major in English. While on campus, the Kross relatives toured the College’s music facilities and met with President Ray and department chair Peter Gri≈n. Over lunch, the Kross relatives announced their gift, saying they had selected the Department of Music for the scholarship and donation for instruments because all four Kross siblings shared a love for music. “We hope to award the scholarship as early as next year,” Gri≈n said. “As for the remainder
of the donation, we plan to purchase instruments in various areas that will give our students greater learning and performing opportunities. This extraordinary and gracious gift is truly an honor to receive.” Theodore Kross was a lawyer and trust o≈cer at Chicago Title & Trust. He served as president of the National Alumni Association at Elmhurst College from 1961 to 1963, and was awarded the College’s Founders Medal in 1990. He was a veteran of World War ii and the Korean War. Robert Kross was a businessman who owned and operated the Elmhurst Music Mart for many years and later worked for the Pfanstiehl Corp. in Waukegan, a company that made phonographic needles and cartridges. He received the Elmhurst College Founders Medal in 1990, and also served on the College’s Steering Committee. He was a veteran of World War ii. “They lived their whole lives in Elmhurst— they got their education and both earned their living in and around Elmhurst. In their retired years, they gave back,” Plassman said. “We’re proud to be able to do this, to be able to follow through on our uncles’ wishes.”