"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. 5.8K. "Getting along with her," says one developer who knows the family, "was something none of them ever mastered. There is, for example, the very palpable legacy of real estate developed by Morris Cafritz, including several lots and office buildings downtown. She was 78 years old. Calvin H. Frazier (February 16, 1915 - September 23, 1972) was an American Detroit blues and country blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. Influence over the city's future -- no doubt. a medically-induced . ", Conrad and Carter Cafritz have chosen instead the purgatory of probate court, where their complaints suggest less lovely memories. "I know Atlas hates publicity like poison," says Raymond Carter, a former Cafritz Co. vice president. Cafritz was a tireless promoter of the city. In 1929 he also built the since-demolished Ambassador Hotel, at 14th and K streets NW, where he and his family lived until 1938. 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. To one interviewer she said that art was "the theme, you might say" of her life, "as in a Wagnerian opera." CAFRITZ James Edward Cafritz James Edward Cafritz of Bethesda, MD, passed away on Tuesday, December 22, 2020, at the age of 90. Twenty-four years later, when Gwendolyn Cafritz died, her estate consisted of two parts: the marital trust established under Morris's will, and her own property -- the landmark house on Foxhall Road and various real estate, stocks, bonds and savings accounts. 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 . 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. There was no one she would not invite to dinner, sometimes calling the offices of Cabinet secretaries to ask for any day in the next year when the secretary would be free. He is a leading supporter of the Global India Fund, and the Ukapav Indian-American Scholarship Foundation. 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. 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. In the 1400 block of Spring Road NW is a row of seven almost identical walk-up apartment buildings. Food has always been a go-to for people in mourning. Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a33c63ad631098ddb002d9da023fc09f" );document.getElementById("gab125c3ec").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. To Edward R. Murrow, in a 1956 interview, she said that to speak of Washington cocktail parties was "unfair to Washington. Calvins brother Carter passed away in 2019. According to Susan Boerstling, GWs assistant vice president for corporate and foundation relations, the partnership of the Cafritz Foundation with GW is unique in terms of other universities in the area. The annual Cafritz Awards Gala has been held on campus for many years, Boerstling noted, representing a partnership between the university, the foundation and the Office of the D.C. Mayor. Peggy Cooper Cafritz, a doyenne of Washington arts and education, who tried to mend many of the city's social and racial wounds, created one of the nation's leading arts-intensive high schools,. Echovita Inc is a registered trademark. 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. Age: 91 years old Also known as: Mr Calvin Cafritz, Calvin Cafritz View Full Report Mobile number ADS View Current Number Landline number (202) 223-3100 Email addresses ccafritz@cafritzfoundation.org Relatives Calvin Cafritz Jane Cafritz Current address 1642 29th St NW, Washington, DC, 20007-2901 See more results for Calvin Cafritz It is not clear how old he was when he fell for a 19-year-old Hungarian-American beauty named Gwendolyn Detre de Surany; perhaps because she was so much younger than he, Cafritz appears to have habitually understated his age by six or eight years. For him, philanthropy required partnerships that are broad, diverse, and extensive. And to the publicity-loathing cave dwellers, the Georgetown hostesses who were society leaders by birth, Gwendolyn's so-visible efforts made her a figure of fun. He has assembled a group of about 14 local hotels, including the Georgetown Inn and One Washington Circle. 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.". Information and advice to help you cope with the death of someone important to you. Calvin Cafritz, their eldest son, became Board Chairman in 1989 and in 1993, he was elected President and CEO of the Foundation. 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. "He's part of a legendary family, and he's the only one who seems interested in keeping up the legend," says one friend. 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. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a contribution to a charity of your choice. In the 21st century, it's not just urns and gravestones anymore. There are, superficially, great similarities among the three brothers, who all share their mother's dark coloring. Tech Tip: How to Turn Documents and Images into PDFs in Android. Her skin had an unhealthy, pouchy pallor; extending an uncertain hand, she had the air of a dreamer deploying remembered charms. Calvin's younger brothers, Conrad and Carter, are behind-the- scenes players in many business and charitable ventures players. What do the younger sons of the celebrated Washington hostess hope to gain by waging legal war over their mother's will? . including, but not limited to, any facilities located in Washington, D.C.; Palm Beach, Florida; or Monte Carlo, Monaco." 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. He was preceded in death by his brother Carter Cafritz. To slip out of the speedy traffic on Foxhall Road into the half-circle driveway was to slip back in time. Jane Lipton Cafritz was elected in the second half of 2022 to succeed her husband as the foundations president and CEO. Leave a sympathy message to the family in the guestbook on this memorial page of Calvin Cafritz to show support. Echovita offers a solidarity program that gives back the funds generated to families. In the '70s she became a near-recluse. All rights reserved. For better or worse, he is the son who has tried to live out both their ambitions -- to build on a scale that will make an impact on the city, and to develop a persona that will make him an actor in the capital. 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. 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). 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. In high school, for example, Conrad stood out even among his privileged classmates at St. Albans. He died on Thursday, Jan. 12, at age 91. Gradually, he branched into entertainment, operating the first open-air movies in Washington (a matter of setting up chairs in vacant lots), and then a bowling alley and pool hall in Southeast, near the Navy Yard. ", 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). Conrad, who was a losing bidder for the job, waged a lengthy challenge, arguing that Western was giving short shrift to the minority partners whose participation qualified the partnership for the contract award; though he finally lost last year, he succeeded in forcing a renegotiation of terms between Western and the Redevelopment Land Agency. ", 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." 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. But it was hard to remember, here, the titanic social ambition that had made her what she was. Her gown, as in the past, was spectacularly formal: folds of purple satin sweeping to her ankles beneath a fitted bodice. We'll help you find the right words to comfort your family member or loved one during this difficult time. All of their lives, the Cafritz boys have been aware of their status as the sons of Morris and Gwendolyn. 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. Upon Morris Cafritz's death in 1964, he became president of the Cafritz Co.; and in the first will Gwendolyn wrote, in 1969, which included all three sons, she made Calvin an executor and left him the Foxhall Road house. By the time of her death, however, Calvin was still the son closest to his mother. His commitment to causes and institutions extended beyond writing checks to giving time and energy. But she had a disconcertingly self-serious way of advertising it. In May, Jane Lipton Cafritz hosted a lunch that brought together a number of young opera singers and many of their supporters and admirers. The most famous of these was the Cafritz Building, at 1625 I; ballyhooed in 1950 as the first "park-at-your-desk" building, it had ramps rising 10 stories at the building's core. The mission of the foundation is improving the quality of life for all Washington, D.C., metropolitan-area residents, Boerstling said. I hope they will. Cafritz is survived by Jane, his third wife, who is a lawyer in the area. In 2021 alone, the foundation awarded some 430 grants to 413 nonprofits. Because Gwendolyn's estate has not been probated, its value is hard to establish. When she drafted her third and last will in 1981, she wrote a final clause that reads almost like an afterthought, but resounds in the lawsuit now underway: "It is my wish that our descendents {sic} shall maintain an interest in the affairs of THE MORRIS AND GWENDOLYN CAFRITZ FOUNDATION and its philanthropic purposes and I desire that, following my death, CALVIN CAFRITZ be elected to serve on the board of the Foundation.". Nor, apparently, is it for us to judge what her sons now want from a D.C. Superior Court judge: All three declined to beinterviewed. 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. From the others he solicited their names, bending to murmur prompts into the ear of the star. Recognizably brothers, the youngest of them nearing his fifties, they were a striking presence at the party. That's why her final victory rather delighted me. He was 91. 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. 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. Another longtime beneficiary of Cafritz Foundation support has been The Textile Museum. Your email address will not be published. Says a friend, "He thinks they're a lot of fuddy-duddies living in the 17th century." He has interests too in a booming brokerage firm he helped bankroll, and in a Midwestern shopping-center conglomerate. Authorize the publication of the original written obituary with the accompanying photo. Dean Liesl Riddle of the GW College of Professional Studies (CPS), where GW CEPL has been housed since 2005, said, Our college was launched to make an economic and social impact through innovative professional programs that cultivate talent for employers and propel students careers forward. 1050 30th St. NW "For over 30 years the Cafritz Foundation has supported The Textile Museum, especially as a prominent proponent of the museums move to the George Washington University,"said John Wetenhall, director of the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum. January 12, 2023 The foundation, which Calvin led for over 30 years (after his mother Gwendolyn died in 1988), focuses on programs in the arts and humanities. It charges that Rogers and Atlas "exerted undue influence" on her decision to leave all her money to the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, and that Gwendolyn herself "lacked testamentary capacity," meaning that she was incapable of writing her will.
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