Calvin Cafritz Obituary Recommend Calvin's obituary to your friends. 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. Following the death of his father, Calvin became president of The Cafritz Co., Cafritz Construction Co. and Ambassador, Inc. in 1964. He was 91 years of. The singers belonged to the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists Program (YAP), one of the opera world's most prestigious breeding grounds for the next generation of Pavarottis and Renee . 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. 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. Among the guests that June evening were her three sons, Calvin, Carter and Conrad. And in the two decades of her advocacy, she has established a high profile -- and raised a lot of hackles among the old guard that runs most of the city's major cultural institutions. They charge in their suit that Rogers and Atlas influenced her to leave all the property she controlled to the foundation. He had emigrated from Russia as a boy with his family, which stopped briefly in New York before settling down to run a grocery store at 24th and P streets NW. The Cafritz Foundation is also responsible for developing Art Place at Fort Totten, a huge mixed-use project in the Northeast D.C. area. Small grants went to 15 more Jewish charities, and the rest to such local charities as boys clubs and hospital funds. His faith was great enough to lead him into investments that would later seem visionary: He developed the Temple Heights tract at Connecticut and Florida, for example, buying the land in 1945 with developer Charles H. Tompkins and sitting on it for 12 years before selling the northern part for development of the Washington Hilton, and building the two Universal Buildings on the southern part of the site. The foundation, which Calvin led for over 30 years (after his mother Gwendolyn died in 1988), focuses on programs in the arts and humanities. Today he shares office space and support staff with Conrad's growing interests, but for the most part pursues his own deals. ", Conrad Cafritz is, in a word fondly used by friends, weird. For him, philanthropy required partnerships that are broad, diverse, and extensive. "The boys used to make a joke of their mother. Beginning with single-family houses, moving on to apartment houses and office buildings, he managed to dodge the Depression and was well positioned to preside over the city's transforming boom during and after World War II (see box, Page 20). Copyright 2023 Echovita Inc. All rights reserved. The suit was filed by the middle and youngest Cafritz sons, Carter, 53, and Conrad, 51. And {Gwendolyn} was just considered comical, and there were a lot of jokes about her. 91. You can still show your support by sending flowers directly to the family, or plant a tree in memory of Calvin Cafritz. When the Cafritzes' back terrace offered the most celebrated view of the city, southeast, past the swimming pool and rolling lawn, all the way to the Capitol. 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. Here, beyond the threshold, was the stunning circular entrance hall, dramatic enough to live up to the woman who once swept down the stairs to greet her guests. "He's part of a legendary family, and he's the only one who seems interested in keeping up the legend," says one friend. The trust was established at the death of Morris Cafritz in June 1964 in the interests of saving estate taxes. Marvin LaVerne Katz, 83, of Dallas, Texas, passed away on November 22, 2019 in Dallas. "Those were her orders: The Scotch should never be let go beneath the neck of the decanter. Only between the lines or in conversations with old friends can one make out how nakedly she wore her ambitions, and how hard she was working to measure up. Because Gwendolyn's estate has not been probated, its value is hard to establish. She is survived by her daughter Jane Cafritz (Calvin) of Washington, DC, five grandchildren: James Speyer, Irina Rubenstein and . The outcome of the lawsuit is unpredictable, though clearly it will be an uphill fight: Showing that someone was alcoholic is very different from demonstrating that she was incapable of writing a will. Peggy, the product of a well-to-do black family from Mobile, Ala., has worked especially at promoting arts in the black community: She almost single-handedly founded the Duke Ellington School for the Arts and was Marion Barry's first chairman of the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Ymelda Dixon, who covered many of her parties for the Evening Star, recalls, "They were great parties, because she had the means and the imagination. So if some of these nostalgic callers had once doubted or mocked her, with her grand house and her grand airs and her husband's enormous fortune, it was surely too late, in 1986, for any of these social acquaintances to want to shatter this fading legend. In real estate, especially within the constricting borders of D.C., power isn't limited to those who own the land; controlling the land can be almost as good. The George Washington University community is remembering the life of Calvin Cafritz, a businessman, philanthropist and longtime supporter of GW. "Carter Cafritz is just a genuine nice fellow," says Raymond Carter, a former vice president of the Cafritz Co. "Conrad is more in the father's mold. Real estate was more than mortgages and refi nancing in the Cafritzian heyday; it was empire building . Meanwhile, for as long as it takes, Conrad's childhood home turns a sleeping face to Foxhall Road, drapes drawn at all the windows. "He took me into the kitchen and showed me how the cook would leave coffee for him in the morning," remembers the friend. She has pressured the Smithsonian to increase the number of minorities in high-ranking positions and has been arrested outside the South African Embassy as a leader of Mother's Day protests there. The longtime GW supporter had a unique relationship with the university and the city of Washington, D.C. Center for Excellence in Public Leadership, Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service, GW is committed to digital accessibility. Certainly it is Conrad who seems to embody, in one slight frame, the polarities of his parents' lives and personalities. Distinguished D.C. Government Employees Recognized at Cafritz Awards Gala, Office of Communications & Marketing G Guest 4 hours ago Comment Share T The staff at Sagel Bloomfield Danzansky Goldberg Funeral Care Inc a day ago We plant this tree as a living memorial to Calvin. Through his dedication to the Foundation and his beloved Washington, DC community, Mr. Cafritz was deeply committed to building a more just and beautiful region with access to opportunities for all. 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. "I've just bought 100 acres of downtown Washington," he was fond of saying. Its annual reports list a fairly traditional, staid set of beneficiaries, and its grants are studied by an advisory board heavily weighted toward the kind of high-profile, high-society arts philanthropy that Gwendolyn favored: Among the members are National Gallery of Art Director J. Carter Brown, retired Smithsonian secretary S. Dillon Ripley and retired librarian of Congress Daniel Boorstin, as well Carolyn Deaver, wife of former White House deputy chief of staff Michael K. Deaver, and a social friend of Gwendolyn's, Mrs. Tazewell Shepard. Washington, DC 20007 January 2023 - Page 189 - obituaries death 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. Gwen Cafritz and her chief rival, Perle Mesta, were in fact the first of a new breed -- celebrity hostesses who openly courted the press and saw no shame in self-promotion. Rogers had served as her personal attorney since her husband, Washington real estate magnate Morris Cafritz, died in 1964. Add a photo or a video To Calvin Cafritz, she left the symbolic role of family chief, Morris Cafritz'ssuccessor in a world of primogeniture. With him at the helm, the foundation distributed hundreds of millions of dollars in grants to a range of organizations, including the National Gallery of Art, Bread for the City and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Grief researchers say holding that missing funeral service, even a year or more later, can still help us heal. One possible reason for that -- and for any bitterness that might motivate the lawsuit -- is suggested by the suit's underlying argument: "For many years, beginning at a time not precisely known to plaintiffs, but at least by the time of the death of the late Morris Cafritz, the Decedent began suffering from a number of conditions that resulted in physical and mental debilitation," reads the complaint. 2 SONS CONTEST $84 MILLION CAFRITZ WILL - The Washington Post The Cafritz Foundation is also a longtime supporter of GWs Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service. It is hard to imagine, in this competitive atmosphere, that a single person could have dominated the field as Morris Cafritz once did. The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, the charitable organization Calvin Cafritz had led since 1989, confirmed his passing and provided a copy of his obituary, which didnt disclose cause of death. The holdings in downtown Washington include buildings in the 1700 and 1800 blocks of K Street and a parking lot at 12th and K; buildings in the 1300 and 1600 blocks of L Street; property in the 1600, 1700 and 1800 blocks of I Street. The foundation, among Greater Washingtons largest with more than $400 million in assets and some $65 million in annual revenue and expenses, according to its most recent Form 990, is expected to issue a formal statement in the coming days. 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. ", Other documents filed in court indicate that the sons will argue their mother was incapacitated by alcoholism. Cafritzs passing was confirmed by the charitable organization named after Morris and his wife, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. Recognizably brothers, the youngest of them nearing his fifties, they were a striking presence at the party. 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. It is easy to imagine that for a son of Morris Cafritz, watching great deals go unmade is a kind of hell. When he died, his estate was the largest ever probated in the District of Columbia. 1050 30th St. NW Calvin Cafritz Death - Calvin Cafritz, a real estate developer, businessman, and philanthropist in the District of Columbia, passed away on Thursday, January 12, 2023, at Sibley Memorial Hospital. No one needed to be told that this was Gwendolyn Cafritz's last hurrah. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. 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. He began with houses, ultimately building about 10,000 homes in the Washington area. Conrad is angrily aware, say friends, that his success will always be explained away. He resigned seven years later to form Cafritz Enterprises. Obituary. 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. 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. Gwendolyn Cafritz died of cancer last November. "That black sense of humor asserts itself, or he'll do something outrageous." "Watch Washington Grow to One Million," he urged in newspaper ads of the '40s, a slogan he changed to "Watch Washington Grow to Two Million" after the 1950 census counted more than 1.4 million in the metropolitan area. His father, one of Washington's leading commercial and residential builders from the early 1920's to the 1960's, distinguished himself as an outstanding civic leader known for generosity. And even then, there was always fussing. 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. In any case, he was at least 20 years older than his bride when they married in 1929. "He's creative, he's smart, also ambitious, like his father. Your email address will not be published. Chances are, many Washingtonians might not even realize how much real estate the Cafritz family is responsible for in the area. January 27, 2023. He also has three children, five grandchildren and three stepchildren. Calvin R Cafritz, (202) 223-3100, 1642 29th St NW, Washington, DC Mr. Cafritz began his career with Cafritz Construction Company in 1947. Influence over the city's future -- no doubt. Giving to charity is a meaningful way to honor someone who has died.
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