By Rita Weinstein, JTNews Correspondent
Even though she left behind no direct descendents, Edna Simon’s legacy to her community will be long remembered.
Born in Erie, Penn., she arrived in Seattle in the 1930s after completing her college education in Ohio and doing the European grand tour. Active and involved throughout her life, she’s remembered by those who knew her as vibrant, independent, proud, and deeply committed to Jewish and humanitarian causes. Edna was a member of Temple de Hirsch Sinai, but was well acquainted with other congregations and rabbis, and maintained ties with Reform Temple Ansche Hesed in Erie, bequeathing properties to that congregation in her will.
Edna was also an astute, methodical investor. Throughout the 1940s and 50s, she carefully accumulated, by small bits, stocks in some of the strongest companies in the country. Over the years she never sold the stocks she’d purchased, but continually reinvested her dividends. She also invested in lifelong annuities to provide for her retirement. When she finally did retire from her working career, she was pleasantly surprised to discover that she had more than enough to live on comfortably.
Edna was interested in many causes. As an art lover, she was a long-time supporter of the Seattle Art Museum. She made many gifts to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. She also funded a fellowship in genetics research at the UW Medical School. She stayed abreast of community needs and made many small, personal gifts. But, caring about people as she did, her keenest concern was for unmet human needs. So, with the help of community philanthropists Herb Pruzan and Sam Stroum, in 1988 she set up The Isador Simon Family Foundation, in memory of her father. Its purpose was to “provide financial assistance to the poor, the homeless, the handicapped, the blind and the hungry; assist in the prevention of cruelty to children and animals; and to assist charitable, religious, educational, literary, and scientific organizations which are dedicated to these purposes.” After Sam’s death, Neil Ross took his place as trustee.
Failing health forced Edna to finally leave her long-time home near University Village and move into the Ida Culver retirement home. Even then she remained engaged in the operations of the Simon Foundation, meeting with Herb and Sam regularly to discuss who was being helped and how. As her health continued to decline, she moved into the Kline Galland Home, yet her great pride in the work of the foundation continued to keep her involved until she passed away in April 2001.
Careful management of her investments and a strong desire to do the most good with them allowed Edna to leave a sizable, long-lasting gift to the community. In her will she bequeathed $25,000 each to 11 organizations, including some that received grants from the Simon Foundation In addition, she bequeathed approximately 80 percent of the residue of her estate to Jewish charities and 20 percent to nonsectarian charities “involved in aiding the poor, hungry, homeless, and handicapped.”
As executor of the estate, the Bank of America determined after careful deliberation that the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and United Way of King County, as umbrella organizations with the greatest knowledge of the service providers in their communities, were the most qualified to appropriately allocate the bequest and earnings on it. As a result, the Jewish Federation will receive approximately $1.4 million, which will be used to establish the Edna C. Simon Memorial Fund as a restricted fund of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund.
Herb Pruzan (Simon Foundation trustee, past president of the federation, past chair of the Endowment Fund and an endowment trustee), Janet Gray (an endowment trustee and member of UJC’s National Advisory Council on Planned Giving and Endowments) and Neil Ross (Federation Campaign co-chair and Simon Foundation trustee) were instrumental in bringing the gift to the Federation.
While a number of Jewish Federation beneficiary agencies, as well as non-beneficiaries, were eligible to receive funds from this bequest, the organizations with which Edna was most directly involved during her lifetime included the Jewish Federation, the Kline Galland Center, Jewish Family Service and its subsidiary, Seattle Association for Jewish Disabled, and The Isador Simon Family Foundation.
Because each of these organizations deals with different constituencies, the Jewish Federation board decided that each of them should benefit from the estate. KGD, JFS, and SAJD will each receive annual distributions from the memorial fund. With input from the Simon Foundation, the federation will direct the balance of distributions to eligible organizations to aid the poor, homeless, hungry and handicapped. As examples, the federation could apply funds to human services in Israel and other places where there are Jews in need, which was of significant interest to Edna. The Simon Foundation may recommend grants to a number of smaller charitable organizations such as the Ziv Tzedakah Fund, which Edna appreciated because of its low cost and “hands on” approach to helping people in need. A four-member committee with one representative appointed by each of Kline Galland Center, JFS, Jewish Federation and the Simon Foundation will monitor the process.