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Tribute to S. Lee Kohrman A CJN Special Section
COLUMBUS
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TRIBUTE TO S. LEE KOHRMAN ABOUT THIS SECTION David and Inez Myers created the David and Inez Myers Foundation in 1954 at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland. To date, the foundation has contributed $150 million to organizations in Cleveland, Israel and beyond.
S. Lee Kohrman, partner emeritus at Kohrman Jackson & Krantz of Cleveland, was president of the foundation for 24 years, until retiring June 1. This special tribute section takes a look at the work of Lee in his role and the impact the foundation has made around the world.
The CJN expresses its sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and its president, Erika B. Rudin-Luria, for their support and partnership on producing this special section. David and Inez Myers
Kohrman reflects on 24 years as Myers Foundation president JANE KAUFMAN | STAFF REPORTER @jkaufmanCJN jkaufman@cjn.org |
About Lee
A
s S. Lee Kohrman looks back on 24 years of leading the David and Inez Myers Foundation, he reflected on a small, moment of personal connection – in Istanbul, Turkey. “I was visiting the Jewish community there,” he said. “They have a system in their senior homes where they don’t use paid employees. People in the Jewish community volunteer. So all the housekeeping and all of the support services in these senior homes … were maintained by the Jewish community, Jewish women.” Kohrman said he was touched. “I was very much moved by the devotion of the community,” he said. He said he posed a question to the volunteers. “At the end of the day, I asked them if they had a modest sum of money – I can’t remember what it was – what would they do with it?” he recalled. “And they said, well there was an area where they would create a garden so that the senior people could sit out in the garden. I said that sounds like a great idea.” When he returned to Cleveland, he spoke about his conversation to Inez Myers about his observations in Istanbul. “I said to her, ‘Inez, these people
Gary Gross, then board chair of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, awards longtime community leader S. Lee Kohrman the Charles Eisenman Award, the Federation’s highest honor, at Fuchs Mizrachi School in Beachwood in April 2018. | CJN Photo / Amanda Koehn
are going to build a garden, what do you think about that?’ Well she was delighted by it.” Prior to planting the garden, Inez Myers died. “So I asked them if they would put a plaque in the garden noting that it was in memory of Mrs. Inez Myers.” A number of years later he returned to Istanbul. “And there was this magnificent little Japanese-style garden, which had before just been an old trash dump,” he said.
“For decades, Lee Kohrman has been a candid, valued and enduring friend to the Shalom Hartman Institute. Lee shares our commitment to supporting and sustaining the important work of rabbis in and on behalf of our community, and we would not have been able to do our work of educating rabbis without his steadfast support. We are grateful for decades of his partnership and wish him only health and happiness in his retirement.” Yehuda Kurtzer, President The Shalom Hartman Institute of North America
“And (it) was dedicated to Mrs. Myers, and a number of elderly people were sitting out in this garden, and it just moved me tremendously that we had created this wonderful memorial to Inez at the same time serving these people in a wonderful fashion. And certainly David … had been very much interested in the care of the elderly.” The Myers Foundation has contributed $150 million to organizations in Cleveland, Israel and beyond in the 24 years Kohrman has been at its helm. Kohrman, 92, has passed the baton of volunteer leadership. And while he said the priorities and values of David Myers have largely shaped the direction of the foundation’s allocations, Kohrman has also played a crucial and creative role in funding decisions, specifically with an eye toward Israel. PASSING THE BATON On June 1, after 24 years at the helm, Kohrman retired from the presidency of the Myers Foundation, passing the baton to Leslie Dunn. Kohrman said he felt the timing was right. “I’d served for 24 years and no one’s immortal,” Kohrman said. “I understand. It was time to turn it over to someone else to do it. Dave (Myers) left when he was 96. I left when I was
Age: 92 Born: Cleveland Marital status: Widowed How he met his wife, Margery: “She was going to Wellesley and I was going to Harvard. Our mothers had taken each one of us to hear Eleanor Roosevelt speak in Cleveland. … Wellesley wasn’t that far down the road from Harvard, Cambridge. So I used to go down the road to Wellesley fairly often after that.” Children: Bruce, a neurologist in Miami; Katherine in Newtown, Conn.; Jonathan in Whately, Mass.; Matthew in Stanford, Calif. Grandchildren: 10 Raised his family: Shaker Heights Synagogue: Park Synagogue in Cleveland Heights and Pepper Pike Profession: Lawyer Title: Partner emeritus, Kohrman Jackson & Krantz of Cleveland Education: Cleveland Heights High School, Harvard College and Harvard Law School 92. And I’ve got a great successor, so it worked out well.” CONNECTION THROUGH COMMUNITY David and Inez Myers established the David and Inez Myers Foundation in 1954 at the Jewish Federation of Cleveland. A Cleveland native, David Myers first worked as a barrel maker, went into the asphalt business and finally went into investments. “David came from a generation that was under threat,” Kohrman said. “Or perceived, and it became real obviously in the Shoah. Jews were insecure in the early 1900s and during the time that David lived, he believed Jews would be most secure in America in an America that was open and not constrained. He believed in strengthening America. … He was a very forward-thinking guy.” Kohrman first connected with David Myers when the two served on the Mt. Sinai Hospital board. They also connected through Federation work. Myers asked Kohrman to become his
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Jack, Joseph & Morton Mandel Foundation
Congratulates Lee
on 25 years of philanthropic leadership of the David and Inez Myers Foundation. We laud your innovation and passionate path-breaking work. We look forward to the continuation of the Myers Foundation mission by Leslie Dunn as President.
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Lee, congratulations on your retirement. Thank you for your service to the community and belief in the work of City Year Cleveland over the years through the David and Inez Myers Foundation.
Congratulations Lee on your accomplishments and achievements as President for over two decades. From Councilman MARTY GELFAND South Euclid Supported by Friends of Marty Gelfand • Sherry Ball, Treasurer 3954 Eastway Road • South Euclid, Ohio. 44118 216-932-1216 • friendsofmartygelfand@gmail.com
lawyer and later to serve as one of nine trustees on the board of the Myers Foundation. Five trustees at the supporting foundation of the Federation are designees of the Federation; four are donor members, initially designated by David and Inez Myers. In 1996, when Myers was 96, Kohrman became president. “By the time I became president, the agenda had been set by David during his lifetime,” Kohrman told the CJN in a June 4 interview. “It was pretty much to maintain his charitable giving, his philanthropy that he had started during his lifetime. He created the foundation to be the conduit for his many facets of philanthropy. We continued that.” AN EYE TOWARD ISRAEL Kohrman, as the volunteer at the helm, also helped shape the direction of allocations, with an eye toward Israel. He said Myers believed that “Jews in America were likely to prosper – I don’t mean just financially but socially and have all the opportunities that everyone else had – if there’s a free, generous, progressive society. So, while he was a conservative in his business matters, I think he’d be described as a progressive in social matters.” Myers believed in supporting education and arts in Cleveland, in Jewish life in Cleveland through the Jewish Federation and its partner agencies, and in supporting Jewish continuity in America and throughout the world. “He had some interest in Israel, not as great as mine,” Kohrman said. “There was also a minor
Lee, We thank you for your leadership, passion and dedication to the Myers Foundation, as well as to all of your many personal endeavors. Your efforts have positively impacted thousands of lives. Kol Hakavod! Reneé & Kerry Chelm
S. Lee Kohrman reflected on his work with the David and Inez Myers Foundation. Kohrman, who has been president for 24 years, retired from the post June 1. | CJN Photo / Jane Kaufman
interest of his, which we’ve continued, which was support of basic research in the life sciences.” Through his position at the helm of the Myers Foundation, Kohrman saw a way to both support Israel and research in the life sciences by directing money toward universities in Israel. “We’ve currently for up to the last decade we’ve been making grants on the order of about $8 million a year. We’re not a large foundation, a modest sized foundation,” Kohrman said, estimating that the foundation now has assets totaling about $200 million and has made $150 million in allocations in his 24 years as its president. The Myers Foundation has two grant cycles per year, June and December. “I make the recommendations,” Kohrman said. “I do the study work over the year. I bring to the board recommendations at each grant cycle. I explain why I’m making the recommendations. Sometimes they’re discussed. Sometimes they’re accepted based on what I say.” Kohrman said he could not recall an instance
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“It is difficult to put into words our gratitude for Mr. Kohrman. We turned to his leadership and generosity at several critical points over the last two decades during which we have experienced much growth and transformation. Each time, his response was thoughtful, informed and generous. We are very grateful.” Tom Gill, President Urban Community School
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Thank You S. LEE KOHRMAN We are delighted to honor S. Lee Kohrman for 24 years of dedicated service as president of the David and Inez Myers Foundation. With his signature wisdom, hard work and generous spirit, Lee Kohrman selflessly guided the work of the Myers Foundation. Countless individuals in Cleveland, Israel, the former Soviet Union and other communities around the world are living better lives and will have brighter futures. Lee Kohrman accomplished this while perpetuating the legacies of the Foundation’s namesakes. With deepest appreciation and sincere gratitude,
J. David Heller Board Chair
Erika B. Rudin-Luria President
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“I found a fruitful world, because my ancestors planted it for me. Likewise I am planting for my children.” Talmud, Taanit 23A
Mazel Tov Lee! Thank you for launching the Myers Campership program at JFSA Cleveland. Thanks to your vision, over 250 youth and their families grew prouder of their Jewish identities and strengthened their sense of belonging to their Jewish community through this program. We are honored to stand beside you in a blooming garden of young people who will surely plant their own seeds for generations to come, thanks to your example. JFSA strengthens the role that teens and young adults play in the community. 216.292.3999 | jfsa-cleveland.org
TO S. LEE KOHRMAN , THANK YOU
for your support of medical education and a healthier, more equitable future! Congratulations on an impactful career. We wish you all the best in retirement.
when a recommendation he made was rejected. “I don’t think it’s of great value to bring things of great contest,” he said. “We’re not a debating society. We’re trying to do some good. If it’s not fairly evident, fairly persuasive on its face, I wouldn’t bring it forward.” MYERS FOUNDATION GRANT PRIORITIES Kohrman said the Myers Foundation allocates about $1.5 million a year to each of its five priority areas. It is a key supporter of jHUB, created by the Federation and the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland, which reaches out to interfaith families with Jewish programming, an investment Kohrman called “worthwhile.” Similarly, the Myers Foundation supports Jewish camping for children of families who would otherwise not be able to attend camps, often single-parent families with no organizational ties to Jewish communal life. “We’ve tried to capture those kids,” Kohrman said, and “bring them more strongly toward Jewish life. That’s been very successful for us.” In terms of Jewish continuity nationally, the Myers Foundation has invested heavily in BBYO. “They’ve had a resurgence over the last 10 or 15 years, and we’ve participated strongly in that, a great investment to us,” Kohrman said. Abroad, the Myers Foundation allocates to the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. In Israel, he said that investment in Israel’s universities to study life sciences has been “gratifying.” In addition, he said the Myers Foundation’s investment at the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute in Jerusalem has allowed the foundation to influence Israel’s policy decisions. The institute conducts applied social research. A $15 million gift in 2004 was the largest made by the foundation at that time.
S. LEE KOHRMAN “By having a strong apolitical research center, such as the Brookdale, I believe we have been able to, as I say, influence policy making for the good,” Kohrman said. “To the extent that we can interject through Brookdale Institute facts and data and solid research, then I consider that to be a force for good.” The Myers Foundation’s largest investment in Israel is at the institute, he said, along with the investment in universities. Kohrman first became aware of the institute when the Federation was making overseas connections and the institute was acting as an adviser to the Federation. “Later on, we were looking to try to create an impact in Israel, rather than just be a passive donor to Israel,” said Kohrman, and decided to invest in the institute. “There was a chance for us to make a real impact in Israel far beyond the size of our foundation, indirectly, but nonetheless recognizable.” Kohrman served as the chair of the institute for several years, and three trustees of the Myers Foundation are currently on Brookdale Institute’s committee. “So we still have a great deal to say in how it’s run and where it goes,” Kohrman said. DISAPPOINTMENTS ALONG THE WAY Kohrman said there have been disappointments in his tenure. He did not mention the closing of Myers University, formerly called Dyke College, and David Myers’ alma mater. In 1995, the Myers Foundation made a $2 million naming gift to what was then Dyke College in Cleveland, which became Myers University. Under Kohrman’s leadership, the Myers Foundation made a $200,000 gift to the university, which closed in 2007. Instead he spoke of a disappointment in shaping Israeli policy in a key area: affordable housing.
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“Through the annual support of Lee and the Myers Foundation, the Cleveland Eye Bank Foundation was able to create our website, support our local physicians and scientists in finding cures and treatments for blinding eye diseases, and inform our community about the importance of eye donation for transplantation and research. We are eternally grateful.” Debbie May-Johnson, Executive Director Cleveland Eye Bank
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MAZEL TOV LEE! Thank you for all of your years of support
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Justice, justice you shall pursue Your leadership of The David and Inez Myers Foundation promoted equity and justice for Legal Aid’s clients. Congratulations on your retirement!
Daniel Rubin, Chairman Mark B. Levin, CEO
The Cleveland Orchestra salutes S. Lee Kohrman on the occasion of his retirement after more than 25 years of service as President of The David and Inez Myers Foundation. His contributions to civic life as a founding partner at Kohrman Jackson & Krantz, and his commitment to Tikkun Olam through his many community partnerships have had a profound positive impact on the city of Cleveland and the world. Lee, we are deeply grateful for your leadership, dedication, and passion. Thank you.
Congratulations, Lee !
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KOHRMAN | 70 “We thought we could make a difference in what I think is one of the great threats in Israel’s society ... the lack of affordable housing in Israel. I thought that was – and is – a great threat to the solidarity of the community. … We invested a considerable amount of money in engineers and lawyers, accountants and city planners and every other conceivable field of professionals to try to put together a package of expertise and persuasivity that would change the direction of affordable housing in Israel, and it was a crashing failure. There is still no program for affordable housing in Israel.” KOHRMAN’S CONNECTION TO ISRAEL Kohrman said he used to travel to Israel four times a year, partly as part of his work with the Federation, where he received the 2018 Charles Eisenman Award, the Federation’s highest honor. He has scaled back those visits in recent years to once or twice a year and estimates he has been to Israel close to 100 times. He said he enjoys “being in the comfort of a Jewish society” in Israel. “And I take great pride.” He first went to Israel in 1950 after graduating from Harvard College in Cambridge, Mass. He spent five months on a kibbutz. “I’d been a strong Zionist,” he said, adding that his father, a Zionist and a socialist, influenced his views on Zionism. He spent five months at a kibbutz called Ginosar. “I was young. The country was young,” he said, adding that he decided
The entire Cleveland Play House family congratulates S. Lee Kohrman on his retirement and his tremendous contributions to Northeast Ohio and the arts. TODAY WE CELEBRATE YOU FOR MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN OUR COMMUNITY.
to return to the United States to go to law school. “We used to go out at night, catch fish, ship them to Tel Aviv in the morning. That’s forever in my memory. Working in the banana fields. Meeting people who had served in various Israel armed forces. In 1950, the war was just over in 1948. I got there 12, 14 months after the war was over, the war of independence.” He said he enjoyed working and talking with people who fought in that war, and that he met people who had come from Europe. “That was a great experience. It meant a lot to me.” A MODEST GRANT As a man who appreciates family and family connection, Kohrman spoke of a gift to Council Gardens in Cleveland Heights that stands out in his mind. “They came to us and they wanted to remodel a little library room that they had there,” Kohrman said. “It was for Jewish seniors and people who were of modest means and needed support in their housing budget. … We paid the grant to them. And I visited them a couple months later, and for the first time they installed laptop computers in this library and so these people who lived there had for the first time been able to use laptops to contact their children who lived away from Cleveland. And their ability to do that really just changed their lives. And it was a modest grant on our part, but it just changed everything there.”
“When Lee Kohrman and the Myers Foundation helped Cuyahoga Community College Foundation establish the Student Emergency Fund, we never dreamed of the impact it would have. That initial grant helped to inspire investments from additional donors, and prepared Tri-C and its Foundation to help our students during today’s coronavirus pandemic. Many students in crisis requested help with food, rent and household bills as they lost their jobs and struggled to complete courses online. Thanks to this vision and leadership, Tri-C was ready to respond to and reassure these students so they could achieve their education and look to a promising future.” Megan O’Bryan Vice President, Development President, Tri-C Foundation
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Kohrman touches thousands of lives everywhere he goes McKENNA KENNA CORSON | STAFF REPORTER @McKenna8989 mcorson@cjn.org |
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o many people in Cleveland, Israel and where his aid has far reached across the globe, S. Lee Kohrman is a Jewish philanthropist, attorney and leader with a passion to leave the world a better place. But to many leaders who worked hand-in-hand with the retiring president of the David and Inez Myers Foundation for 24 years, they know him as the true man he is: a friend and mentor with determined views, one with an intimidating shell, yet loving interior, and a motivation that if harnessed, could replace Israel’s source of electricity. JEWISH FEDERATION OF CLEVELAND Erika B. Rudin-Luria, president of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland in Beachwood, vividly remembers the first real conversation she had with Kohrman. He called Rudin-Luria after viewing the 2011 Cleveland Jewish Population Study, where he saw families had indicated they weren’t involved in Jewish life or Jewish camps because they didn’t feel a part of the Jewish community or couldn’t afford the camps, synagogues or institutions. “He said, ‘I want to find those kids, we need to get those kids to camp,’” Rudin-Luria recalled. “‘How do we go about finding kids that are on no list in the Jewish community, but we know that they exist?’” He addressed the problem by working with Jewish Family Services Association of Cleveland and the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland to find those in-need Jewish children, Rudin-Luria said. “That was the beginning of the launch of what today is known as the Myers (Foundation’s) Campership Outreach program, which last summer sent over 100 kids to Jewish overnight camp,” Rudin-Luria said. “Lee and the Myers (Foundation’s) Campership Outreach program has truly impacted countless families’ lives.” Rudin-Luria fondly remembers visiting Camp Wise in Claridon Township, a camp owned and operated by the Mandel Jewish Community Center, with Kohrman and Leslie Dunn, the new president of the David and Inez Myers Foundation, for research during the creation of the Campership Outreach program. During this visit, Rudin-Luria saw more to the man she was working with as he spoke to the children to get information for the budding program. “You could see his heart while he was interacting with the campers,” Rudin-Luria said. “He’s always very curious. (He asked them) what do they love about camp, what do they bring home with them from camp, what do they want him to know about their camping experience. With each conversation, you could see Lee’s brain working to figure out how is it that we could do more.” While Rudin-Luria’s hands-on camp research stopped with Camp Wise, Kohrman’s had just begun. “Lee drove hours to visit different overnight camps that Myers (Foundation’s) Campership Outreach kids attended so that he could get to know the camps,” Rudin-Luria said. “He wanted to make sure that it was a high-quality experience. We all know that visiting a camp is far different than hearing about it, and he wanted to make sure that he was knowledgeable.” Throughout her work with the Federation, RudinLuria said she has found her time with Kohrman to be one from which she’ll continue to pull meaningful, teachable moments. “Lee has always inspired us and pushed us to do more,” Rudin-Luria said. “He is all about the people who are being
served – that’s what drives him in everything. He pushes on things that he is passionate about, and he has shown a willingness to engage about difficult subjects. ” From their travels together to St. Petersburg, Russia, and to Camp Wise, Rudin-Luria said she will never forget Kohrman’s superpower. “As we’d meet different people, Lee focused in on each one and their situation,” Rudin-Luria said. “He’s someone that has the ability to look at and think about an individual and an entire group, and say, ‘How can we have more of an impact here?’”
Kohrman have more than 40 years of shared memories, hard work and a love for making a difference. Hoffman vaguely knew of Kohrman before becoming president, but their Federation involvements ignited a strong and lasting friendship Hoffman said he wouldn’t give up for anything in the world. Kohrman chaired a Federation group that developed programs for Parents and Children Together, an educational support program that helps Ethiopian children pass pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, and Havat HaShomer, a military base run by the Israel Defense Forces
STEPHEN H. HOFFMAN Former Federation president Stephen H. Hoffman and
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CONGRATULATIONS, LEE!
Kohrman Jackson & Krantz is pleased to recognize Partner Emeritus Lee Kohrman for his outstanding contributions to the community and dedicated service to the David and Inez Myers Foundation.
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Junior Achievement of Greater Cleveland thanks Lee Kohrman and the David and Inez Myers Foundation for their many years of supporting our efforts to help young people in our community succeed in a global economy. We wish Lee all the best!
AMERICAN FRIENDS OF TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY
CELEBRATES
S. LEE KOHRMAN VISIONARY PHILANTHROPIST DEDICATED FRIEND AND DEVOTED PARTNER OF TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY
that gives soldiers of any socioeconomic or educational background a chance to train and fight. These involvements – while only dipping a pinkie toe into the craterous pool of Kohrman’s work – created efforts Hoffman still considers Kohrman’s most impactful. “I admire Lee’s deep passion for Israel,” Hoffman said. “He just kept pursuing that love of Israel and its people. All the work we did with the Ethiopian kids – he loves kids. He just cares a lot about kids.” One of Hoffman’s favorite memories is when Kohrman served as North America’s co-chairman of the Ethiopian National Project, an organization that seeks to unite Israel’s government and Ethiopian-Israelis. Kohrman relinquished the position at the end of 2014 after holding it for 10 years. “He was fearless in going into the Israeli government offices, literally demanding that they live up to their obligations to help the Ethiopian-Israeli citizens,” Hoffman said. “He could browbeat them; he was passionate and relentless. It was like he was the attorney for the Ethiopian citizens of Israel vis-a-vis the Israeli government at one point – that’s how he acted. It was an amazing thing to behold.” Hoffman recalled Kohrman’s charitable efforts that helped carve the sister city relationship with the Jewish community in St. Petersburg following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. No matter the distance or situation, Kohrman would be the first to provide assistance to any Jew in need, no matter the distance or situation. “He would be trudging up and down many flights of stairs to visit older people to learn how we could help and to see how the services of the community were being delivered to the Jews in St. Petersburg,” Hoffman said. “We did the same thing in Argentina together when the economy collapsed. (When Lee was president of the Myers Foundation), we went to Buenos Aires to meet with the community and to see what we could do to help. In those days, wherever there was a Jewish community in distress, Lee made sure to be there to see how we could help.” From the Campership Outreach
S. LEE KOHRMAN program to the work with Ethiopian children, Hoffman applauded every one of Kohrman’s efforts. But while the work he did was revolutionary, Kohrman was also a person who encouraged those around him to be their very best. “Lee is somebody who’s constantly challenging you,” Hoffman said. “He’s always raising questions; he’s always raising the bar. He’s never satisfied. We can always do better. That’s great to have someone push you like that.” As someone who’s known Kohrman for almost 50 years, Hoffman has learned a thing or two about his good friend. “He can have a very gruff exterior, but he has a marshmallow inside when it comes to kids and their needs,” Hoffman said. “Lee’s also very smart. When we were exploring gifts to (give) Israeli universities (through the Myers Foundation,) we were looking into the areas we were thinking of investing in. I was blown away by how much he understood about the sciences we were considering funding. I thought he was just a lawyer, but he’s more of a Renaissance guy.” While these specific gifts were made around 2000 as Hoffman recalled, Kohrman guaranteed to match every need of the Myers Foundation to make the foundation’s namesakes proud. “It was an important cause to David and Inez, and so we were continuing that interest,” Hoffman said. “Lee was enormously faithful to the values and interests of David and Inez because that was their foundation he was chairing. They were gone, but he made sure that their name would be remembered as a blessing.” BBYO Words, BBYO International CEO Matt Grossman discovered, have the ability to change worlds. To Grossman, Kohrman’s words have helped him with everything from financial decisions to his Jewish views. “One of the things I really appreciate about Lee is that his opinions come from a deep and intellectually driven perspective on what’s good for the world,” Grossman
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“When you combine Lee’s keen intellect, pragmatism, strength of character, honesty and infectious wit, you have the recipe for strong philanthropic collaboration. I feel most fortunate to call Lee my friend and my teacher.” Julie Sandorf Revson Foundation
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IN GRATITUDE TO S. LEE KOHRMAN
WE ARE SO GRATEFUL TO LEE, PERSONALLY AND IN HIS ROLE AS CHAIR OF THE MYERS FOUNDATION. WE HAVE BEEN BLESSED WITH TREMENDOUS SUPPORT FOR OUR RESIDENTS AND CLIENTS, WITH MANY PROJECTS OVER MANY YEARS, MOST RECENTLY WITH MAJOR SUPPORT FOR THE BEAUTIFUL NEW MARCUS REHABILITATION PAVILION.
WE TREASURE THE MYERS NAME AT MENORAH PARK, WHERE DAVID MYERS WAS “MR. MENORAH PARK” FOR TWO GENERATIONS. WE LOOK FORWARD TO WORKING WITH LESLIE DUNN, TO MAINTAIN A WONDERFUL LEGACY OF LOVE FOR
JEWISH CLEVELANDERS AS THEY GROW OLDER. THANK YOU, LEE! RICK RIVITZ, PRESIDENT AND JOEL FOX, CHIEF DEVELOPMENT OFFICER THE MENORAH PARK FOUNDATION
Thank You Our sincere thanks to Lee Kohrman and The David and Inez Myers Foundation for 30 years of generous support to keep kids safe and families together at Providence House.
®
Mazel Tov Lee Kohrman
a true leader in our community!
Rabbi Joshua Skoff Senior Rabbi
Susan Ratner President
www.parksynagogue.org | (216) 371-2244
Yasher Koach To You Lee! An advocate to supporting the needs of the Global Jewish Community, Proud To Call You Friend.
Barry Feldman
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Dear Leslie, The Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute congratulates you as you step into your new role at the David and Inez Myers Foundation. You are an invaluable, key member of the Institute’s leadership committee, helping to articulate current and future steps, contributing great clarity, and doing so with much wisdom, experience, and grace. We welcome and look forward to your leadership for many years to come.
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Thank you
Lee Kohrman for your dedication to our community and for supporting our work with homeless families. You have touched so many lives!
Mazel Tov, Lee!
Thank you for so many years of giving to our community. Yasher Koach. You have made a tremendous impact through your attention to detail, commitment, thoughtfulness and generosity, all of which is unparalleled. Susi & Peter Meisel Gary Yarus
S. LEE KOHRMAN
LIVES | 74 said. “We’ve had discussions about the difference between Jewish values and universal values, which have been critical to my own thinking about Judaism.” When he first met Kohrman in 2004 after taking over as executive director of BBYO, Grossman was a little hesitant. “I remember when I first met Lee, I was frankly intimidated,” Grossman said. “I saw him as an incredibly sharp, authoritative voice that was ready to challenge me. What I realized shortly thereafter is that it was all done out of love for BBYO, his mission and to bring out the best in me as a person. ... I love the man. He’s one of the great blessings in my life, and I’ll do anything for him.” As a previous BBYO board member and former Myers Foundation president, Grossman believes Kohrman’s contribution to BBYO is immeasurable. “When you think of what Lee has meant to BBYO, you think about what his grandchildren have meant to (the organization),” Grossman said. “Almost all of them have been through the program, served in leadership roles and brought their energy, intellect and inspiration – which obviously come from him as their grandfather. “The other thing he brought was a voice of moral reason, always making sure our decisions were rooted in what’s right for the Jewish community and where we could add value as Jews to the world.” Each year, BBYO has matched the funding from the David and Inez Myers Foundation to allow teens from Cleveland who didn’t have the economic means to attend BBYO’s international convention. Kohrman made sure to attend every year to show his support. Grossman chuckled as he recently recalled Kohrman – over 90 years old – attending the convention surrounded by 3,000 teens “acting wonderfully chaotic.” “(Kohrman was) sort of sitting back with his arms folded and a giant smile on his face,” Grossman said. “A lot of adults would have questioned, ‘What is all of this about?’ (But) he knew exactly what it was about: the power of young people coming together, celebrating what it means to be Jewish and acting on the power of their youth.” Grossman estimates there will never be a complete list of all the organizations and people Kohrman affected, but that just contributes to his magic. “Lee’s legacy will be the fact that people don’t know all the work that he’s done, because he does it quietly, humbly,” Grossman said. “He doesn’t look for fanfare. He puts making a difference above all else.” MANDEL JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER The first time Michael Hyman, the president and CEO of the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Beachwood, met Kohrman, it was at Camp Wise in the early 2000s. The meeting was to discuss the extensive dining hall renovations that would be paid for by a Myers Foundation leadership gift to the Federation’s Centennial Campaign, Hyman said. “We walked around camp for quite a while and talked about how the dollars were going to be invested, what the changes were, the improvements that would be made to the camp facility,” Hyman said. “It took us into a conversation about Lee’s passion for Jewish overnight camps and the impact that it has on kids.” As the two men walked around Camp Wise’s wooded grounds, Kohrman opened up to Hyman. “Lee told me that he never had the opportunity to go to overnight camp as a child; his parents couldn’t afford it,” Hyman said. “Later on, as he came to understand and recognize the importance of the Jewish camping experience and building the Jewish identity of children
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LIVES | 76 and teenagers, he reflected back to his own experience. But he didn’t have that. He said, ‘Gee, this is so important for kids in our community as they grow up.’ This commitment has been a driving force for Lee over his years – that children and teenagers from our Jewish community need to have a Jewish overnight camping experience.” Years after their initial meeting, support from the Myers Foundation for the Mandel JCC and Camp Wise continued to come. A Myers Foundation leadership gift helped underwrite the renovation costs of the Mandel JCC’s early childhood wing. Another Myers Foundation leadership gift enabled Mandel JCC to build a new infirmary at Camp Wise. “He understands the important work that we do at the Mandel JCC in building and strengthening our Jewish community,” Hyman said. “There’s been continuous support.” On top of the “significant” monetary support Kohrman has given Mandel JCC, his establishment of the Campership Outreach program has brought additional children and teens who might not have experienced Jewish summer camp without Kohrman’s assistance to Camp Wise. Since the program’s start in the summer of 2012 to last summer, 192 different youngsters have entered Camp Wise through the Campership Outreach program, Hyman said. “These are all things that enable us to fulfill our mission of building a strong and cohesive Jewish community, of enhancing the quality of life and ensuring the continuity of Jewish life in our community,” Hyman said. To Hyman, Kohrman is a friend he looks up to and respects immensely. Kohrman’s efforts done for the protection of Judaism are ones Hyman will always find inspirational. “Lee is a visionary leader who gets things done,” Hyman said. “All of the work
that he’s done at the Myers Foundation over the years, as a leader in our Jewish community, that’s his priority: the quality of and continuity of Jewish life. I admire him deeply and all the work he’s done for the J.” MT. SINAI HEALTH CARE FOUNDATION Before Kohrman attended Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Mass., to become an attorney, a different career path tickled his fancy for a bit – one where he would have been called Dr. Kohrman, had it been his calling. Despite leaving medical school after a couple months, his interest in the world of medicine never did. He served as the founding board chair of the Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation in Cleveland, the foundation he helped create following the sale of the Mt. Sinai Medical Center that he represented as the center’s attorney. A few years later, Kohrman met Mitchell Balk, president of the Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation. The Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation was new – it would aid Greater Cleveland’s communities through financial support. “With Lee’s help, we established a new grant-making resource for Cleveland that was not just about writing checks,” Balk said. “It was about being strategic, having the ends in mind and then dividing road-maps to get us to those ends. He was invaluable as our founding board chair.” Kohrman’s interest in medicine only seemed to increase as he and the board worked to improve Cleveland’s health and add new partnerships. “He was a terrific advocate for the field of academic medicine,” Balk said. “He’s always had an interest in teaching and research medicine – that guided us in our relationship with the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.” Balk will never forget when he was asked to become the initial head of the
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MAY YOU GO FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH. Enid & David Rosenberg
Former Jewish Federation of Cleveland President Stephen H. Hoffman; from left, Rhona and Alan Gill, CEO, Joint Distribution Committee; Clevelander Beverly Gill, Alan’s mother; Alan’s sister Clevelander Linda Spitz; S. Lee Kohrman, life trustee of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, executive committee member at JDC and JDC honorary board member. | Photo / Romina Hendlin
LEE, COMMUNITIES HERE AND AROUND THE WORLD ARE FOREVER GRATEFUL FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP.
In gratitude to Lee Kohrman and the David and Inez Myers Foundation for fifteen years of support for the TALI school system, which provides pluralistic Jewish education to 65,000 Israeli children every year.
Saul Sanders, Chair Prof. David Golinkin, President
78 | CJN.ORG | COLUMBUSJEWISHNEWS.COM LIVES | 77 foundation after working the grant-seeking side of the business for most of his career. Kohrman allowed Balk to hire a high-ranking former officer of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the nation’s largest public health philanthropy, as a consultant and mentor to assist Balk with his new position. “Even though there was a lot of pressure to open immediately and begin grant-making, (Lee) saw that this foundation was going to be around for a very long time,” Balk said. “He encouraged me to take the time to do it right; you don’t just open up.” Balk learned the special way Kohrman treated all the grants he considered – with a sense of uniqueness yet reality for each case. “He has a lot of passion, but he uses his incredible mind
JUNE 12, 2020 to bring a certain toughness to the decisions that need to be made, recognizing that resources are finite,” Balk said. “And so, the way he approaches grant-making is, align the funds with document and deed, but also figure out what can additionally add to the solution because money is finite.” To Balk, Kohrman is a man who loves the Jewish community. It’s no surprise to Balk the Jewish community in Cleveland, Israel and around the world loves him back. “I admire the fact that he has cast his lot with the Jewish people, and he is guided by a love for the Jewish people – a love in everything he does,” Balk said. “He is beloved in Israel. He has invested heavily in so many sectors of Israeli society to advance the nation’s economy and its medical sciences, having created/ endowed chairs in medicine in every medical school in Israel, all stemming from his love of the Jewish people.”
Dear Lee, To a colleague, mentor and friend, mazel tov on the enormity of your success in the pursuit of tikkun olam through your leadership of the Myers Foundation.
• DONNA YANOWITZ DARA AND ALAN YANOWITZ
S. LEE KOHRMAN
S. Lee Kohrman, Silver Circle board chair, greets guests at a Jewish Welfare Fund event in June 1998. | Photo / Steve Schegrevsky
JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE ASSOCIATION OF CLEVELAND To Susan Bichsel, president and CEO of Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland in Pepper Pike, Kohrman is someone not afraid to push the envelope when making change. That reason, and a myriad more, is why she admires him. “Lee is a standout person; he is different than a lot of other leaders in the community,” Bichsel said. “I think he’ll often think, say and take a stand on things that people maybe haven’t thought of before. He is ahead of the curve in some ways, and that helps cause innovation to occur.” His forward thinking is what sparked the invention of the Campership Outreach program JFSA Cleveland operates with funding from the Myers Foundation and JEC. The Myers Foundation has provided the program with more than $3.5 million since its commencement in 2012. When Kohrman contacted JFSA about starting the program, Bichsel was shocked. JFSA and the Myers Foundation had never worked together and his passionate pitch of bringing local Jewish children who weren’t on any lists to summer camps needed plenty of flushing out. Additional organizations like the Federation and the JEC provided assistance to find the in-need kids, develop programming the children could use when not in camp and additional funding. “We were willing to give it a go, but for a variety of reasons, this was not something that just everyone wanted to jump on,” Bichsel said. “It required taking some risks, and it required pulling together a couple of ideas that in and of themselves were good ideas, but putting them all together required taking some risks. It ended up being a great idea and a great outcome.” The Campership Outreach program proved to build on aspects of JFSA Bichsel hadn’t initially thought of but she is thankful for in the long run. “The campership program is much more connected to the idea of Jewish identity and ‘who I am as a Jewish person?’ It builds much more directly on the concept of ‘I belong in the Jewish community,’ and ‘I am connected to the Jewish community,’” Bichsel said. “It strengthens ties for the long-term. Doing that in such a new, innovative and much more direct way was really different for us.” Bichsel found the entire process of working with Kohrman for the first time a dream. He was motivated to complete the Campership Outreach program, and he would see it through to the end.
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“A torch is not diminished though it kindles a million candles�
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- Midrash Shemot
I found a fruitful world, because my ancestors planted it for me. Likewise I am planting for my children." {Talmud, Taanit 23A}
The Shalom Hartman Institute applauds
Lee Kohrman
Kol HaKavod from your University of Haifa family. We are forever grateful for your leadership, enthusiasm, and generosity.
Lee's leadership and vision are unparalleled, and we are grateful for his accomplishments and impact over his 24 years of service to the Jewish community.
Mazel Tov Lee! Your presence and commitment to the community for nearly 25 years is treasured. May you go from strength to strength
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College Now would like to extend its sincerest congratulations to Lee Kohrman on his retirement as President of the David and Inez Myers Foundation, which has supported College Now for over 40 years. Thank you for your deep commitment to the educational opportunities of students in Northeast Ohio throughout your career.
216.241.5587 | info@collegenowgc.org
www.collegenowgc.org
THANK YOU LEE KOHRMAN FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE TO SUPPORT THE COMMUNITY MAY YOU GO FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH 2929 RICHMOND ROAD, BEACHWOOD | 216.593.0575 | MALTZMUSEUM.ORG
S. LEE KOHRMAN
JUNE 12, 2020
“Lee asks tough questions, and he has very high expectations,” Bichsel said. “But he has a very clear vision. That makes working with him a real privilege, because there’s nothing ambiguous about him. That helps steer you in the right direction. “The program had to be developed (at the start), but where we wanted to go was very clear. We met outcomes after the first year. After that, it was, ‘Can we do a little better?’ ‘What did we miss?’ ‘Is there some other piece that we’re missing, some other thing that could be enhanced?’ That’s how he cares about excellence.” To those who don’t understand the importance of a Jewish summer camp experience, Bichsel stressed Kohrman’s brainchild lasts well after the pools have drained and once roaring camp fires under the sparkling stars have become soot. “I think an important piece about this program is that there’s the impact of today, which is the (kids) going to camp and learning about who they are and how their faith is a part of who they are,” Bichsel said. “The impact is also about tomorrow – who (the kids are) going to develop into, who and what they’ll mean for the community in 15 or 20 years, and what they’ll bring back because of what they’re learning about themselves today (due to) their connection to the community.” After establishing the program, Kohrman and the JFSA team quickly noticed a problem: the kids and teens receiving financial assistance to attend Jewish summer camps stood out for the wrong reason. “All the other kids had just spent the (past) two months buying all new stuff for camp, so they were showing up with brand new duffle bags, sheets, shampoo and all this stuff,” Bichsel said. “If you’re coming from a home of poverty, or one that barely scrapes by, you’re showing up with nothing basically. Or (because) your parents have not been sending you away to sleep-away camp for the last five years, you don’t even know what it is you’re supposed to arrive with.” Kohrman wasn’t going to let any
additional variables stand in the way of the campers receiving the Myers Foundation’s financial assistance from having a perfect summer. These kids would get the Jewish summer camp experience he never had growing up. “Lee arranged for us to be able to get new big duffles, towels, sheets and basic toiletries for (every Campership Outreach participant) so that when that kid showed up at camp, they looked like every other kid,” Bichsel said. “It took away any ability to stigmatize these kids and prevent that from becoming an obstacle to them, all so that they’d be embraced in the community. “This showed the two sides of Lee: just a really incredible thinker with this laser focus, but also the ability to understand those more subtle pieces of the matter to make it all work.” Bichsel went from knowing of Kohrman to having a deep understanding of the multifaceted man he is, thanks to the Campership Outreach program. “You meet him, and you think that he’s kind of intimidating, hard-hitting and demanding of excellence, but he also has this incredible soft spot for people in need,” Bichsel said. “A lot of these families obviously had great need, and whatever the need was, he was incredibly responsive to it if it was going to improve their situation, if it was going to enable them or remove an obstacle so that they could have their family member get to camp.” But above all else, Bichsel learned of Kohrman’s unexpected and unyielding dedication to improve children’s lives no matter the cost on his own. “You have this incredibly accomplished attorney who’s got this whole professional life and everything he’s done as a professional, but he would get in the car on a weekend, drive eight hours to visit one of these camps and interview the people running them to really determine, ‘Is this a place I want to support and send kids to?’ ‘Is it going to have an impact on kids in the way that I want it to?’” Bichsel said. “Which I think is rather amazing. I mean, how many of my staff would even do that?”
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The Temple-Tifereth Israel Congregational Family Congratulates and Appreciates
LEE KOHRMAN for his years of dedication to the David and Inez Myers Foundation and his commitment and impact to the Cleveland Jewish community.
Jack and Lilyan Mandel Building 26000 Shaker Boulevard Beachwood, Ohio 44122 216.831.3233 • www.ttti.org
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JEWISH EDUCATION CENTER OF CLEVELAND To Marlyn Bloch Jaffe, associate director and director of planning and evaluation at the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland in Cleveland Heights, it was the little things Kohrman did that showed her he truly cared about the diverse work he did in the community. “The everyday interactions, the phone calls, the emails, asking what’s happening and genuinely caring, catching up over breakfast, brainstorming ideas,” Jaffe said. These interactions led to what Jaffe admires most about Kohrman: his desire to selflessly help those in need. “He always has his eye on who is being helped,” Jaffe said. “It’s never about the program; it’s not about the institutions. He talks about the kids or the families.” Every day as she’d come into the JEC office, Jaffe would be greeted by two smiling and familiar-looking faces framed among their wall of presidents: Kohrman’s father, Max, for his presidency of the Bureau of Jewish Education – JEC’s predecessor – in the 1950s, and Kohrman, for following in his father’s footsteps and serving the same presidency in the 1970s. Over the years, Kohrman presented new ideas with means to support them to the JEC, including the Campership Outreach
program, Jaffe said. After getting kids to camp, JEC strove to extend their Jewish experiences well after their marshmallows had been toasted and sleeping bags put into storage. “Campership is very directly engaging kids after camp in other activities during the year, so that it’s not just a four-week experience but trying to keep that during the school year,” Jaffe said. “We’re hooking kids up to youth groups and other programming like jHUB (and BBYO). “Lee likes to be kept informed. He meets with the director (of jHUB) several times a year and has other conversations with jHUB staff about what’s happening.” Once the Campership Outreach program was in full swing, Jaffe was reminded of her favorite attribute of Kohrman. “With campership and BBYO, he always talks about the kids; with jHUB, it’s the families,” Jaffe said. “It’s not about the program; it’s not about the institution. It’s about who’s at the center of the experience: the kids (or families)” Jaffe attributed Kohrman’s success to his ability to see different viewpoints and his leadership style. He also made sure to stay updated and informed on the projects he was involved in. “He has a hands-on nature, not in a micromanaging way, but really caring both about the big picture and the small picture,” Jaffe said. “He’s both a funder
Thank You for your contribution to philanthropy and your impact on Northeast Ohio and the world, from your Cleveland State University Community
Lee Kohrman
6/8/20 12:44 PM
A true friend, role model and Tzaddik. Todah Rabbah for all you’ve done for your community and the Jewish people.
- Julie Sandorf
and a thought partner, and he’s both very visionary and cares deeply about the details.” After each conversation spanning their 20-year friendship, Jaffe is confident Kohrman’s intellect is unbeatable. “He happens to be one of the most intelligent people I know,” Jaffe said. “It sharpens you to think clearer, focus really on what the goals are and how to measure effectiveness. He asks all those really deep, penetrating questions in a really supportive way, but (it also comes as) a challenge.” To the man whose work is rarely seen but frequently felt by the Jewish community, Jaffe cannot express enough praise to Kohrman. “Lee is just a super phenomenal human being who’s really impacted hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of kids and families in Cleveland,” Jaffe said. JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE In Israel is the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute, the nation’s leading center for applied social research. The institute was established in 1974 through an independent, nonprofit partnership between the Joint Distribution Committee, the Israeli government and the David and Inez Myers Foundation. The institute had been chaired by Kohrman, who continued to bestow multi-million-dollar gifts to it so the institute could continue researching social
With gratitude to
LEE KOHRMAN
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Lee Kohrman and the David and Inez Myers Foundation’s continued support for a future world without blindness.
www.cleyebankfoundation.org 4775 Richmond Road | Cleveland, OH 216.232.EYES (3937)
challenges. “He has been an active partner, helping shape the direction that the Myers-JDCBrookdale Institute has taken,” Asher Ostrin, Joint Distribution Committee interim CEO, wrote in an email. “Because he is so admired and respected, his input was highly valued.” He is also a life trustee and executive committee member of the JDC, the international Jewish humanitarian organization striving to protect the world’s Jews and create a strong Jewish future. “He has incredible integrity, intelligence, warmth, compassion and vision,” Ostrin said. “He has been personally generous, and he has also brought the Myers Foundation into JDC.” Over Ostrin and Kohrman’s 25 years of knowing one another, Ostrin discovered that despite the plethora of work Kohrman does, he doesn’t do it for personal gain. “There is probably a lot people don’t know about him, because on top of everything, he is very modest,” Ostrin said. “His input is never ‘about him.’ It is for the better of the institution or organization.” Publisher’s Note: Under the direction of S. Lee Kohrman, the David and Inez Myers Foundation provided the CJN with financial assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. This tribute section was conceived in 2019.
Dear Lee, The Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute is grateful to you for your decades of dedicated and enthusiastic support, counsel, and guidance on behalf of the Institute and the People of Israel. You have been visionary and instrumental through the Myers Foundation in ensuring the present and future work of the Institute. We thank you and wish you much satisfaction from all of your endeavors thus far, and for many more years to come.
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S. Lee Kohrman, We thank you for making a difference in the lives of others! 2012 West 25th Street, Suite 705 • Cleveland, OH 44113 namigreatercleveland.org • 216-875-7776 • info@namicleveland.org
Most sincere congratulations to Lee Kohrman on his retirement after more than two decades of dedicated service to the David and Inez Myers Foundation.
CUYAHOGA COMMUNITY COLLEGE (TRI-C®) FOUNDATION
CONGRATULATES
LEE KOHRMAN With gratitude to Mr. Kohrman and the Myers Foundation for its leadership in establishing the Tri-C Student Emergency Fund.
tri-c.edu/foundation 216-987-4868
Where futures begin
SM
20-0522
20-0522 FDN 4.75x5.25 Congratulatory Ad for CJN.indd 1
6/5/20 8:55 AM
S. LEE KOHRMAN
Kohrman admired, respected as friend, associate RICHARD BOGOMOLNY Special to the CJN
T
he best thing Lee Kohrman ever did for both of our careers was not to hire me. That was in 1962, but I first met Lee earlier through the Jewish Federation of Cleveland. Lee’s parents were friends with my mother, Hilda. Lee was a graduate of both Harvard College and Harvard Law School. That kind of training, with someone of Lee’s intellect, natural curiosity and uncommon good sense, combined with Bogomolny a driving work ethic, created one of the best, most respected lawyers and law firms in our community at Kohrman, Jackson and Krantz. I had returned home after my second year at Harvard when my father died, and went to work in the family’s ice cream manufacturing business. After completing my undergraduate degree at Western Reserve University, mostly at night, I went on to receive a law degree from ClevelandMarshall Law School, attending evenings and summers. Uncertain of my future, it was then I applied for a job at Lee’s law firm. His rejection led me back to the family business, which we grew and eventually sold to Fisher Foods. When I ended up in top management at Fisher Foods, and later at Pick-N-Pay and Finast, Lee was much too ably representing some of our major competitors in the area. But I remain thankful for the rejection that pushed me on a lifelong career path in the food business. I admit to being biased as I have admired Lee and respected him as a friend and associate for many years. Through our associations, I noticed a consistent theme: he is always thoughtful; cares deeply about helping people; and is results oriented. He speaks softly and with care, yet he speaks with passion. Lee’s commitment to the Jewish community and to Greater Cleveland has focused on Jewish continuity, serving the underserved, elevating the educational opportunities available to all, advancing science and medical knowledge, preserving the cultural heritage of our city and of the Jewish community, and supporting and leading the Cleveland Jewish community to preserve and build Cleveland as a place where not only Jews and Jewish institutions can thrive, but where all the people of Greater Cleveland can lead enriched lives. Lee passionately believes that a strong and healthy general community leads to a stronger Jewish community. We have served together on myriad
boards and organizations: the Jewish Federation of Cleveland and on the board of the Musical Arts Association/ The Cleveland Orchestra, where Lee immediately became a valuable trustee. At Mt. Sinai Hospital, I served as a member of the advisory board and Lee was president of the board of directors. Lee then served as founding president of the Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation. Its creation was his idea that he brought to fruition. On the Negev Foundation board, Lee has served on the executive committee for years. Lee’s positive impact on the health care systems within our community has been enormous. The Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation was committed to the successful return of the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine to national prominence. Lee’s leadership and vision contributed to an unparalleled col-laboration between The Mt. Sinai Healthcare Foundation, The Cleveland Foundation, CWRU School of Medicine and Cleveland Clinic. And just last summer CWRU and Cleveland Clinic opened the state-of-the-art Health Education Campus that is positioned for the future of the medical sciences in Cleveland. As president of the David and Inez Myers Foundation, Lee led the foundation in establishing areas of grant making and took primary responsibility for all aspects of the foundation. He expanded the foundation’s giving to reach hundreds of organizations in Northeast Ohio with grants in excess of $50 million. The number of agencies and people benefiting locally is enhanced by the foundation’s significant support of United Way and the Federation’s Campaign for Jewish Needs. Many of the Myers’ grants have been accompanied by Lee’s personal guidance in finding solutions to organizational and other challenges facing grant recipients. This combination of time, talent and financial support is Lee’s legacy and the mark of the success of the Myers Foundation. Two especially notable areas of impact were the creation of the Myers Campership Program, which to date has allowed more than 200 children from unaffiliated and low-income families to attend Jewish overnight camp. The second area is the Myers JDC Brookdale Institute in Jerusalem which does important work in the area of applied social policy research.
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S. LEE KOHRMAN BOGOMOLNY | 82 The Institute focuses on at-risk populations and looks for ways to provide for changing health and human services needs as Israel grows and changes. Lee’s love for Israel is central to his being. He has a special affection for all things Jewish, Zionist and Israel. Early on, Lee joined me on the board of The Negev Foundation. He has made multiple trips to the Negev on behalf of the foundation while in Israel on Federation, Myers Foundation or personal business. Lee was instrumental in building the Ramat Negev Desert Agricultural Research Center devoted to creating high-tech agriculture and to help people in Israel’s Negev Desert grow crops without the use of fresh water, which has always been in short supply in the desert areas of the world. Lee has been successful because he doesn’t seek credit for himself. He is a
JUNE 12, 2020 determined fighter for those things in which he believes and is not at all bashful about presenting a dissenting opinion or taking a risk. You can disagree with Lee on many levels, but he doesn’t hold a grudge – it is never personal,and it never affects your friendship. That is a rare quality you don’t find in many people. Lee does not shy away from making tough decisions. However, he knows that in the nonprofit world, building consensus is important, and he strives to achieve that whenever possible. As he retires from the David and Inez Myers Foundation, which he has more than ably served as president for the past 24 years, I say to my dear friend, Lee Kohrman, may you go from strength to strength.
Richard (Dick) Bogomolny is a regional and national leader in the Jewish and general communities. He most recently chaired the Violins of Hope Project and is an emeritus trustee of the Jewish Federation of Cleveland.
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With gratitude to the David and Inez Myers Foundation for its support helping people triumph over mental illness, alcoholism, drug and other addictions.
Thank you S. Lee Kohrman for your 25 years of leadership.
“The work of Lee and the Myers Foundation has impacted the lives of children and their families over and over again at our Mandel JCC.” Enid Rosenberg, Past Board Chair Mandel Jewish Community Center
Bellefaire Jewish Children’s Bureau thanks Lee Kohrman and The David and Inez Myers Foundation for supporting our work in Cleveland’s Jewish Community.
Bellefaire JCB JDN Early Childhood Center Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters Association Monarch Center for Autism Social Advocates for Youth (SAY) Jewish Day School Counselor Program
BellefaireJCB.org One Pollock Circle | 22001 Fairmount Blvd. | Shaker Heights, Ohio 44118 | 216.932.2800
Partners in health. Partners in hope.
www.recres.org
Thank you Lee for all that you have done for the Jewish community – in Cleveland, across the country, in Israel and around the world. From strength to strength! – Your friends
at JTA and 70 Faces Media Alma · JTA · Kveller · My Jewish Learning · The Nosher
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Lee, You’ve been our role model, teacher, and dear friend for a lifetime! We appreciate all you have done for our family, community, & the world.
• With love, • Shari & Michael Goldberg Frannie Loveman
WISHES TO THANK Cleveland Hillel Foundation S. LEE KOHRMAN a bright future for hiswishes dedication & support through to all ourMyers graduates! the David andofInez Foundation. Mazel Tov Through his work with the foundation, Class of 2020 Lee has transformed the lives of so
many Jewish students on all campuses we serve. Mazal Tov & Best Wishes to Lee from the students, Board, and staff of the Cleveland Hillel Foundation.
JUNE 12, 2020
S. LEE KOHRMAN
Dunn’s task – filling monumental shoes as president McKENNA KENNA CORSON | STAFF REPORTER @McKenna8989 mcorson@cjn.org |
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eslie Dunn never could have predicted the divorce attorney she hired in the early 1980s would become a close friend and mentor, as well as whose position she would follow in the footsteps of – twice. As of June 1, Dunn became the new president of the David and Inez Myers Foundation, Dunn the organization she’s been a part of since joining as a trustee in 2000. She replaced S. Lee Kohrman, who retired from the position after 24 years. Years before, she followed Kohrman as the second chair of the Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation – the foundation Dunn, Kohrman and others were a part of creating. “I guess history is repeating itself,” Dunn said. “Our philanthropic lives – mine nowhere near as extensive as his – they’ve been very much in tandem for a number of things.” On top of years of completing projects and efforts together, Dunn worked with Kohrman in developing one of his most recent projects: the Campership Outreach program. Their years together crafting a close relationship helped Dunn learn something great from Kohrman she refuses to forget: the power of working hard. “You have to really believe that things can be better and different if you just work at it, and this is something that I think (Lee is) a great example of,” Dunn said. “It’s not that money is important, ‘cause it is, but you have to believe really in the power of involvement and philanthropy, and he does.” To Dunn, the words “stamina,” “determination,” “leadership,” “heart” and “intelligence” come together to form 92-year-old Kohrman. She looks forward to her new world of Myers Foundation leadership after graciously taking the torch from Kohrman, but she acknowledges she has monumental shoes to fill. “One hallmark of his is that he has very strong views,” Dunn said. “These views are always on behalf of other people. ... He’s a big believer in people. His interest in the under-served – whether it’s in the Jewish community, greater Cleveland or in the former Soviet Union – equity and the continuity of the Jewish people is so evident in everything he does.”
She knows that Kohrman will be on the Myers Foundation board, giving her space to form her well-informed judgments and lead the organization how she chooses. “He’s going to be there not if, but when I want some really reliable, good thinking about things; when I want to know about the (Myers Foundation’s) past when I wasn’t involved; and some honest advice about whatever it is that I’m thinking about that I want to share with the other trustees,” Dunn said. “He’s going to be a huge source of support for me.” Dunn’s close friend and mentor has spent most of his life working for others, and that will always inspire her to continue to do the same. “When you consider all of the people he knows, regardless of their religious denomination, it’s no wonder he spends all his time doing this (work),” Dunn said. “There’s so many people who want to talk to him all the time. I think it was putting himself where his heart was. He just didn’t talk about it; he did it.” Dunn described a new Federation award created in Kohrman’s sake, rightfully named the S. Lee Kohrman Award. The award recognizes an outstanding Jewish educator working at a local Jewish organization who provides an education outside the traditional classroom – like camps and youth groups. The application process is through the JEC, as it selects the winner. The winner will be announced at the Federation’s annual meeting, where the winner will also receive $4,000. “This (award) is really where his heart is,” Dunn said. The most interesting moments of Dunn’s life came from time spent in Israel with Kohrman and the Myers Foundation trustees during grant trips. It was during these trips Dunn truly saw Kohrman’s curiosity that ranges from culture to people, and when she saw also moments of his influence. “The curiosity is evident in the grants obviously, but when we would go to dinner, you would see that same curiosity and joy in new experiences in the restaurants he would choose,” Dunn said. “They were never typical restaurants; it was always something that was a true experience.” Dunn recalls an Ethiopian restaurant, “the best” seafood restaurant in old Jaffa and a catered dinner at the caterer’s home where an important Israeli journalist joined them. “Those are really terrific memories, truthfully,” Dunn said. She said she looks forward to creating many more lasting memories, and the opportunity to continue to learn from Kohrman.
S. LEE KOHRMAN
CJN.ORG | COLUMBUSJEWISHNEWS.COM | 85
JUNE 12, 2020
LEE KOHRMAN:
Cleveland’s Classic Company
One of a Kind!!!
“I can no other answer make, but, Thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks…”
Anita Gray
We wish you a very happy and well-deserved retirement!
- Sebastian, Twelfth Night, Act III, Scene iii
Great Lakes Theater’s board, staff, educators and artists applaud Lee Kohrman for his extraordinary support of our educational programming for Cleveland Metropolitan School District students. The legacy is a lasting one.
Dear Lee, Thank you for helping to build a shared and equal society in Israel. We are grateful for your vision and leadership. Your Friends, The Abraham Initiatives
Mazel Tov Lee Kohrman
Your tenacity and visionary leadership has had impact on so many in our Jewish community in Cleveland and in other parts of the world. Congratulations on your meaningful accomplishments.
Your Friends at the Mandel JCC
Mindy Davidson Board Chair
Michael G. Hyman President & CEO
Mandel Jewish Community Center
University Circle Inc. congratulates Lee Kohrman on his retirement! Thank you for your leadership at the David and Inez Myers Foundation.
universitycircle.org
WE THE PEOPLE DARE TO CREATE A MORE PERFECT UNION. THE ACLU OF OHIO THANKS LEE KOHRMAN FOR HIS LONGSTANDING COMMITMENT TO YOUTH RIGHTS AND WISHES HIM A HAPPY RETIREMENT.