His father, Morris, established one of the Washington region's leading philanthropic entities, the Morris and . But it has that air of a property just turning past ripeness, toward seed. Each is in his second marriage; each is in some way involved in the arts. . Cardiac Arrest.Most Shocking Celebrity Deaths of All Time, Over the last few decades, there have been some shocking and untimely deaths of few celebrities, Celebrity deaths in 2022: Remembering the famous faces we lost this year . It is hard not to wonder what the effect might have been of hearing Gwendolyn Cafritz's will read for the first time. . Perhaps as a result, he works hard, with much of Morris's old drive. After college and military service, he rejoined the firm in 1956 and served in various positions, until the death of his father in 1964 when he became President of Cafritz Company, Cafritz Construction Company, and Ambassador, Inc. During his tenure, the companies developed, constructed, and leased a number of additional office buildings in Washington's central business district. ", 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. By the time of her death, however, Calvin was still the son closest to his mother. He has assembled a group of about 14 local hotels, including the Georgetown Inn and One Washington Circle. January 27, 2023. She was 78 years old. His class yearbook is littered with references to his family's money; in a list at the back of "most likely" candidates, the last two entries read, "Most Likely to Succeed: Johnson, Clague," and "Doesn't Have To: Cafritz. And he still fights his battles with a surprising intensity, rarely bothering with the shake-hands-and-forget-it bonhomie common in Washington business. And {Gwendolyn} was just considered comical, and there were a lot of jokes about her. Today he shares office space and support staff with Conrad's growing interests, but for the most part pursues his own deals. The strange paradox of her marriage was that Morris's money enabled her to carry out her lavish social dreams, while the family's being Jewish also placed limits on her chances of realizing them. 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. But it was a heady enough wine to call out 300 guests, and the ghosts of many more who had preceded them. Because Gwendolyn's estate has not been probated, its value is hard to establish. Her two younger sons have also filed a separate petition that pursues only the marital trust. "He got up at 5 or 5:30, and he wanted to show me what a hard-working man he was.". ", Conrad and Carter Cafritz have chosen instead the purgatory of probate court, where their complaints suggest less lovely memories. CAFRITZ James Edward Cafritz James Edward Cafritz of Bethesda, MD, passed away on Tuesday, December 22, 2020, at the age of 90. And even then, there was always fussing. Her skin had an unhealthy, pouchy pallor; extending an uncertain hand, she had the air of a dreamer deploying remembered charms. Mr. "I just thought she maybe had had enough of running around, and she was maybe going to stay in a while. All Rights Reserved. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. Conrad and his first wife entertained often in their Georgetown house in the '60s, giving parties -- often liberal fund-raisers -- that offered cozy intimations of radical chic. You have funeral questions, we have answers. a medically-induced . If she gave them an order, they took it lightly, because she liked to drink. It asks the court to rule that under Morris's will, which gave Gwendolyn the right to leave the trust to "such person or persons" as she wished, the foundation -- technically a corporation -- could not qualify to receive the trust. To Edward R. Murrow, in a 1956 interview, she said that to speak of Washington cocktail parties was "unfair to Washington. In the 1400 block of Spring Road NW is a row of seven almost identical walk-up apartment buildings. But she had a disconcertingly self-serious way of advertising it. [2] He is buried in the Washington Hebrew Congregation Cemetery, Washington, D.C. Philanthropy [ edit] 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). But Carter and Conrad Cafritz are not named in their mother's will. 2000 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Expand the Memories and Condolences form. Calvins father Morris built the now-demolished Ambassador Hotel at 14. and K Streets NW, homes next to the National Arboretum, the Greenwich Forest neighborhood in Bethesda and several office buildings downtown. Conrad's strategy has been diversity. That's why her final victory rather delighted me. ", Conrad Cafritz is, in a word fondly used by friends, weird. The majority of this property was already owned by the Cafritz Foundation, but Gwendolyn was partial owner of many of the buildings; even a limited power to control their disposition would presumably attract men with ambitions in Washington real estate. Once it was built, he wasn't interested in it.". Meanwhile, for as long as it takes, Conrad's childhood home turns a sleeping face to Foxhall Road, drapes drawn at all the windows. To one interviewer she said that art was "the theme, you might say" of her life, "as in a Wagnerian opera." 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. 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. There are, superficially, great similarities among the three brothers, who all share their mother's dark coloring. Of the $54 million the foundation has given away since 1970, $32 million has gone to the arts and humanities, almost $9 million to community services, $8 million to education and almost $5 million to health. We welcome you to provide your thoughts and memories on our Tribute Wall. By 1915 he was known locally as "The Bowling King" but still restlessly sought an opportunity that would truly engage him. Cafritz developed real estate here for more than four decades, until his death in 1964, and by the sheer volume and variety of his building activities was for a time the undisputed king of his field. 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. 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. But it was hard to remember, here, the titanic social ambition that had made her what she was. The family observed Jewish holidays, and the sons attended religious school at Washington Hebrew Congregation on weekends. 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. The foundation is Washington's largest source of private funds earmarked exclusively for local projects, large enough to give the person who controls it a potentially shaping influence on the city. If youre in charge of handling the affairs for a recently deceased loved one, this guide offers a helpful checklist. 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. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. ", According to friends, her confidence was badly shaken when she was robbed at home in 1969 by gunmen who bound and beat her, stealing most of the spectacular jewelry Morris had given her. Her statements in the press, even the adoring press of yore, suggest at the least a daunting mother. Then there is the foundation itself, with its powerful endowment for the city. Conrad's ex-wife, former D.C. School Board Chairwoman Peggy Cooper Cafritz, recently resurfaced after her art-filled home was destroyed in a fire last year. D.C. developer, businessman and philanthropist Calvin Cafritz, the eldest son of real estate icon Morris Cafritz and his wife Gwendolyn, died . His commitment to causes and institutions extended beyond writing checks to giving time and energy. But they also sort of outraged people." It took lawyers and IRS agents 4 years to settle the estate, which was valued in 1968 at $66 million. "I think he went along," says a longtime business associate, Irwin Altman. Giving to charity is a meaningful way to honor someone who has died. Betty Lou Roberts Colvin, age 84 of Warren, AR passed away November 5, 2020 at Chapel Woods Nursing Home in Warren, AR. 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. He has always been involved in the bread and butter real estate of housing, from building single-family homes in Prince William County to renovating apartment complexes in Alexandria; he was a major beneficiary of the Washington condo boom. Her hair was still a lacquered black, heavily dressed as always at the back of her head. "That black sense of humor asserts itself, or he'll do something outrageous." Calvin Cafritz and the Cafritz Foundation have been part of the GW Honey Nashman Center from its earliest roots in the Office of Community Service and the Neighbors Project in the 1990s through to the present, said Amy Cohen, executive director of the center. 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. She carried her isolation to her grave. 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. "He just wanted to build, build, build, build!" Mr. Cafritz said that the awards are designed to "shine a light on the contributions of extraordinary government employees. He has interests too in a booming brokerage firm he helped bankroll, and in a Midwestern shopping-center conglomerate. Waiters passed shrimp with cocktail sauce, while full bars offered prehistoric spirits such as bourbon and gin, defiant holdouts in the age of chardonnay and bottled water. 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. ", Her drinking got out of control, he agrees, shortly after Morris Cafritz's sudden death of a heart attack in 1964. Once grown, the sons established limited, perfunctory contacts with their mother. 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. We will miss his gracious and generous presence.. All of their lives, the Cafritz boys have been aware of their status as the sons of Morris and Gwendolyn. The judge's decision, though in favor of Conrad and Carter Cafritz, is of little. Receive obituaries from the city or cities of your choice. Kateryna Pyatybratova directs the centers Cafritz Awards program. But he reached outside that circle when he finally married. Late last year, Calvins wife Jane was elected to succeed her husband as the foundations president and CEO and he was named chairman emeritus. 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. Calvin Cafritz began his career with Cafritz Construction in 1947, pausing briefly to attend college and serve in the military. In Memoriam: Calvin Cafritz. She retained the right to will awaythe remaining three-quarters, or $63 million, which sheleft to the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. Site design by, D.C. developer and head of the Cafritz Foundation. 5.8K. Leave a sympathy message to the family in the guestbook on this memorial page of Calvin Cafritz to show support. If you experience a barrier that affects your ability to access content on this page, let us know via the. "Right at the moment he could be most charming, he does something to undercut it," says one friend. "The boys used to make a joke of their mother. Conrad and Carter Cafritz are pursuing this stake in two ways: One is a lawsuit naming all her beneficiaries and her executors -- William P. Rogers, Martin Atlas and Riggs National Bank. 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. Calvin Cafritz, a successful businessman, was involved in real estate for more than fifty years. . 'Their Financial Needs Are Adequately Provided For'. Copyright 2023 Echovita Inc. All rights reserved. He was for years the president of the Jewish Community Center and donated the land for its first headquarters on Q Street NW. In the 21st century, it's not just urns and gravestones anymore. The mission of the foundation is improving the quality of life for all Washington, D.C., metropolitan-area residents, Boerstling said. In the process, he amassed one of the first great fortunes to be carved out of Washington itself. If you could walk around to the back, you might look out at the famous view; and you might almost see as far as Southeast D.C., where Morris lies with his in-laws, still waiting. Read more on bizjournals.com. 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. Marvin Katz was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Dr. Donald LaVerne Katz and Lila Maxine Katz on December 12, 1935. Cafritz is survived by Jane, his third wife, who is a lawyer in the area. In the '70s she became a near-recluse. There are no events scheduled. The same plain white damask draped the table, with plain white damask napkins tied around settings of her heavy Georg Jensen flatware. 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 . But Gwendolyn sometimes took pains to tell friends that she herself was not Jewish. And it is over the foundation, established to memorialize the name and works of the Cafritz family, that the Cafritz family is now at war. In 1904, with a $1,400 loan from his father, he started out running a coal yard at Fourth and K streets NW, then a saloon near Fourth and O. Mr. Cafritz recognized and championed this work, and its success is a part of his inspiring legacy., Throughout the years, he gave feedback constructively and in a helpful manner, said Jim Robinson, executive director of GW CEPL. Would you like to offer Calvin Cafritzs loved ones a condolence message? You can still show your support by sending flowers directly to the family, or plant a tree in memory of Calvin Cafritz. Morris Cafritz incorporated the foundation in 1948 to give money to Washington-area charities, and when he died 16 years later, he left it half his estate, mostly as stock in dozens of closely held corporations; as the new majority owner of most of these companies, and with Gwendolyn owning most of the rest, the foundation became in essence the owner of the Cafritz Co., its subsidiaries and its assets. 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. 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. 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. In the '50s, Cafritz had an early conviction that the future direction of downtown Washington was along the K Street corridor, and before his death in 1964 he built a dozen buildings in the "new" downtown, mostly on K and I streets NW. Calvin Cafritz Rockville, Maryland March 29, 1931 - January 12, 2023 Share Obituary: Tribute Wall Obituary & Events Share a memory Send Flowers Obituary An obituary is not available at this time for Calvin Cafritz. "Decedent's condition deteriorated after the death of her husband in 1964 and grew worse in the following years. 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. Yet in Morris's absence, the family was anything but the tight-knit dynasty he had paved the way for. The George Washington University community is remembering the life of Calvin Cafritz, a businessman, philanthropist and longtime supporter of GW. The Cromwell, Aberdeen, Fernbrook, Rosedale, Isleworth, Traymore and Zellwood are in sorry shape today, but still stand as a modest monument to the name C-A-F-R-I-T-Z. It is a secretive organization: The foundation would answer no questions for this article. Decedent lacked sufficient capacity to, and did not, dispose of her property with judgment and understanding, considering the nature, character and extent of her estate.". And Gwendolyn's estate is not, in the end, the only -- or even the main thing -- at stake. "With so-called friends all around her, she was a very lonely woman," says Dowling. Was believed to be 102. These two, according to the complaint by Carter and Conrad Cafritz, "exerted undue influence" in Gwendolyn's decision to leave her entire estate to the foundation, of which they are both trustees. (91 years old). Cafritz was a tireless promoter of the city. And given the life she had lived and the kind of friends she had cultivated, few people were close enough to her to understand why. The Cafritz Foundation is also a longtime supporter of GWs Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service. 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. 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. The foundation, which Calvin led for over 30 years (after his mother Gwendolyn died in 1988), focuses on programs in the arts and humanities. 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. There is still a sign directing deliveries to the back of the house, as if tradesmen were still streaming up to the front door to importune the lady of the house, and Ridgewell's were due at any moment with more shrimp and cocktail sauce. Calvin Cafritz, the eldest son of real estate developer Morris Cafritz, died last week at the age of 91. ", High culture was one of her chosen routes to acceptance. "Jews in general just didn't figure. ", Today, he still combats a version of that assumption, pithily summed up by one detractor in this way: "You don't have to be Albert Einstein to take money and make additional money in real estate." As he stood by her chair, he could name at a glance quite a few of the guests -- Chief Justice and Mrs. Warren Burger . "Calvin is a very sweet, very nice person," says D.C. lawyer Max N. Berry. She left $25,000 to a favorite former escort, a Brazilian former employee of the Inter-American Development Bank who now lives in Rio de Janeiro. Several friends read this changeability as part of a larger ambivalence about whether he wants to be an insider or a maverick, heir to a famous tradition or the rebel who subverts it. Following the death of his father, Calvin became president of The Cafritz Co., Cafritz Construction Co. and Ambassador, Inc. in 1964. 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.. Calvin Cafritz Obituary The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation has Died January 17, 2023 Calvin Cafritz Death, Obituary - Calvin Cafritz, the eldest son of Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz, died Thursday at Sibley Memorial Hospital. What do the younger sons of the celebrated Washington hostess hope to gain by waging legal war over their mother's will? He may sometimes have yearned for recognition: One night, after one of the glamorous dinners, he drew a friend of Gwendolyn's away from the dining room and into the kitchen. Money -- to be sure. Some basic help and starters when you have to write a tribute to someone you love. Authorize the publication of the original written obituary with the accompanying photo. Here, still, was the art moderne house, nearly as startling in 1986 as it had been when Morris Cafritz built it for his young family almost 50 years earlier. "Very sort of philosophic, sort of honorable." One interrogatory demands that Riggs National Bank, which was Gwendolyn's bank, "identify all individuals or facilities that, from 1954 until Gwendolyn Cafritz' death, provided to Gwendolyn Cafritz any care, advice, counseling, or treatment relating to her consumption of alcohol . recalls Raymond Carter, a former vice president of the Cafritz Co. "He always had a new job going. "I think it has the clean linear design of a Botticelli, and the elegance of an English portrait," she burbles, in her faintly accented great-lady voice, "and that's the way I would like my children to remember me. Under an earlier agreement between Gwendolyn and her sons, she gave up her power to "appoint" one-quarter of the trust, meaning that $21 million -- or $7 million each -- would automatically go to her sons upon her death. "He's part of a legendary family, and he's the only one who seems interested in keeping up the legend," says one friend. That task was left to her closest relatives. All three sons were rumored to have difficult relationships with their mother, and it was rare to find them together, bearing in unison the family standard. including, but not limited to, any facilities located in Washington, D.C.; Palm Beach, Florida; or Monte Carlo, Monaco." At the same time, he and Tompkins had the foresight to buy the land now known as Pentagon City. Cafritz was a native and longtime resident of Washington, DC. "She was not, as they say, invited anywhere at the beginning," recalls Gore Vidal, whose novel Washington, D.C. includes a character "suggested," he says, by Gwendolyn Cafritz. 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. ", Gwendolyn's estate is worth at least $140 million, including both her personal holdings and a trust passed on from Morris Cafritz's will (see box, Page 32). When Morris Cafritz died in 1964, his estate was worth $66 million, mostly in the form of stock in dozens of closely held corporations he had established to manage his real estate. One quarter to be divided among his sons, in trusts they would inherit outright at age 35. The house was not so much well-tended as beautifully preserved, arrested in time; and the party duplicated the past in every anachronistic detail. "Carter, he always did what the other two did," says Casey. "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. He was 91. . Calvin Cafritz, a native and longtime resident of Washington, DC, was born March 29, 1931, as the eldest son of Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz. Of the three sons, Calvin seems to have had the best relationship with his mother.