Special to NJJN

March 5, 2009

Lore Ross of Palm Beach, Fla., formerly of South Orange, a significant supporter of a number of Jewish philanthropies in New Jersey and the broader Jewish community, died Feb. 28, 2009.

Mrs. Ross and her husband, Eric F. Ross, have been major supporters of the United Jewish Appeal Campaign of MetroWest New Jersey at the highest (Achim) level, benefactors in the Lester Society at the Jewish Community Foundation of MetroWest NJ, and benefactors of the UJA Benefit Concert.

The upper school of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union is located on the Eric F. Ross Campus in West Orange, and the Leon & Toby Cooperman JCC is located on the Ross Family Campus in West Orange.

The Rosses made the single largest gift ($10 million) to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC, where the Eric F. and Lore Ross Administrative Center was named in their honor in 2006.

Mrs. Ross (nee Blumenthal), who had known Eric in Germany, was headed to Paris following his arrival in the United States on Nov. 9, 1938, the day of Kristallnacht. However, she was sent to Camp Gurs in France, which interned Germans at the beginning of World War II. She escaped from the camp and fled over the Pyrenees Mountains, ending up in Lisbon, Portugal, and from there made it to America. Eric and Lore were reunited in New York. Eric Ross gained success as a manufacturer of plastics and other chemical compounds.

The Rosses have also been generous donors to the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston. The NJPAC entranceway in 2002 was named the Eric F. and Lore Ross Rotunda.

They were also major donors to the American Associates of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Mrs. Ross established a Lion of Judah endowment, and was active in Women’s Philanthropy throughout her adult life in MetroWest. Over the past four decades, she was active in the American Field Service (a foreign exchange student program), serving as president; the West Orange PTA; and the councils for the Girl and Boy Scouts. She also served on the board of the Essex County Section of National Council of Jewish Women.

“Lore Ross was a woman of valor who survived the adversity of Nazi Germany and with her husband, Eric, built a new family and life in the United States,” said UJC MetroWest executive vice president Max Kleinman. “Both of them helped sustain many philanthropic efforts…. Over the years I got to know Lore, and she was a consummate lady who always tried to do the right thing,” Kleinman said. “She disliked pretense and was forthright in her convictions. She and Eric have accomplished great things for the Jewish world and humanity.

“I extend my most heartfelt condolences to Eric and the rest of the Ross family.”

She is also survived by her daughter, Barbara Bermann and her husband, Pedro; her son, Peter Ross and his wife, Marsha; a sister, Margot Ruskay; seven grandchildren, Daniela Bermann, Andrea Kaplan, Steven Ross, Robert Ross, David Ross, Jeffrey Ross, and Marc Ross; and two great-grandchildren, Jordan and Joelle Kaplan.

Memorial contributions may be made to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, PO Box 90988, Washington, DC 20090; Temple B’nai Abraham, 300 E. Northfield Rd., Livingston, NJ 07039; or Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union, Eric F. Ross Campus, 1418 Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ 07052.

A memorial service was held March 3 in West Palm Beach, Fla.

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