e c n e l o v e n e B ABUNDANT
A nne and Hen
ry Zarrow
BY JAC O B LO N G A N
T
he Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation was established by Anne and Henry Zarrow — a truly philanthropic couple, though they never embraced that term. They simply saw themselves as people who were blessed with the opportunity to help others. Judy Zarrow Kishner has abundant memories of her parents’ benevolence. When Kishner was 10, she and her mother drove past a woman underdressed for the October chill. They stopped to investigate and learned the woman’s car had faulty brakes. She was walking the 70 blocks — seven miles — to visit her daughter in the hospital. Anne Zarrow gave the woman a coat and a ride to the
Zarrow Foundation philanthropy spreads to scholarships and facilities at OSU
hospital. Then she called Henry, who arranged to get the woman’s brakes fixed and paid for a pantry full of groceries. Henry Zarrow helped establish the Tulsa Day Center for the Homeless, which is on land donated by Zarrow family members. He and fellow Tulsa businessman Dave Hentschel maintained an annual tradition of purchasing and donating cold weather clothing for the Day Center on the birthday they shared, February 12. Like clockwork, Henry would call Hentschel on their birthday to make their annual run to the local Wal-Mart where the two men would fill up Hentschel’s car with undergarments, socks, gloves, hats and scarves.
“When you grow up and see them doing things like that over and over again, you think, ‘That’s just what we do,’” Kishner says. “When you see a need, you help.” Those random acts of kindness Kishner saw growing up were evidence of the underlying qualities of what later became the Zarrow Family Foundations. The family had increasing opportunities to help others as their businesses grew. In 1937, Henry married Anne and established Sooner Pipe and Iron. The business
Bill Major discusses Zarrow Foundation projects with Judy Zarrow Kishner.
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WINTER 2016