", 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). Even as the chaos of wartime Washington started to loosen social strictures, Washington's leading hostess, Evalyn Walsh McLean, stopped entertaining; this opening, together with a boost from Eleanor "Cissy" Patterson, publisher of the Washington Times-Herald, gave Gwendolyn her opportunity. 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. And Gwendolyn's estate is not, in the end, the only -- or even the main thing -- at stake. If she gave them an order, they took it lightly, because she liked to drink. 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. ", 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. Click here for full story from WTOP and the Washington Business Journal. "Lots of times she could drink and she knew exactly what she was doing. Washington, DC 20006. As the hostess had asked, Ridgewell's Caterers heaped the silver platters and chafing dishes with the same filling, fusty food -- the whole poached salmon, the ham and turkey and carved tenderloin; none of the pastas or blackened seafood or grilled vegetables then in fashion. 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. The Cafritz Foundation is also a longtime supporter of GWs Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service. . "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. Baron and Baroness Constantine Stackelberg . In high school, for example, Conrad stood out even among his privileged classmates at St. Albans. Echovita offers a solidarity program that gives back the funds generated to families. Calvin R Cafritz, (202) 223-3100, 1642 29th St NW, Washington, DC Her husband, along with her parents, was buried in Washington Hebrew Cemetery, in Southeast, in a nicely landscaped, square plot designed for four under a monumental headstone reading CAFRITZ. The Meyer Foundation is sad to learn of the passing of Calvin Cafritz, a Washington-area developer and one of the region's leading philanthropists. But almost no one noticed what seemed apparent to Gore Vidal, in brief glimpses of her during the '60s: "Toward the end {of the decade}, she was always drunk whenever I saw her. Calvin Cafritz, the eldest son of real estate developer Morris Cafritz, died last week at the age of 91. What kind of arrangement is appropriate, where should you send it, and when should you send an alternative? 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 suit was filed by the middle and youngest Cafritz sons, Carter, 53, and Conrad, 51. "I know Atlas hates publicity like poison," says Raymond Carter, a former Cafritz Co. vice president. 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. Special Neighborhood Hang Out: Say Cheese! "He took me into the kitchen and showed me how the cook would leave coffee for him in the morning," remembers the friend. "Calvin is a very sweet, very nice person," says D.C. lawyer Max N. Berry. "Very sort of philosophic, sort of honorable." The house on Foxhall Road, completed in 1938, was explicitly designed to fulfill that ambition. Among the guests that June evening were her three sons, Calvin, Carter and Conrad. "I make no other provision in this will for the benefit of my children," it states, "as their financial needs are adequately provided for" by the old agreement giving them $7 million each. She is survived by her daughter Jane Cafritz (Calvin) of Washington, DC, five grandchildren: James Speyer, Irina Rubenstein and . 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. In July 1993, he was elected President and CEO of the Foundation and in the last six months became Chairman Emeritus. His commitment to causes and institutions extended beyond writing checks to giving time and energy. 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. At seated dinners for 22, she entertained ambassadors and justices, senators and Cabinet secretaries. Cafritz is survived by his third wife, Jane Lipton Cafritz, a Washington lawyer whom he married in 2000; his three children; three stepchildren (including Olivia Rubenstein, who earned a masters degree from GSEHD in 2018); and numerous grandchildren and step-grandchildren, as well as his brother, Conrad Cafritz, chairman and CEO of Cafritz Interests. "He just wanted to build, build, build, build!" But Gwendolyn sometimes took pains to tell friends that she herself was not Jewish. About - The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation James Edward Cafritz <p>James Edward Cafritz of Bethesda, MD, passed away on Tuesday, December 22, 2020, at the age of 90. He left it as follows: Half to the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation. When the Duke and Duchess of Windsor came and danced downstairs in "the Club," with the dance floor lighted from below. They charge in their suit that Rogers and Atlas influenced her to leave all the property she controlled to the foundation. Rogers had served as her personal attorney since her husband, Washington real estate magnate Morris Cafritz, died in 1964. That task was left to her closest relatives. What do the younger sons of the celebrated Washington hostess hope to gain by waging legal war over their mother's will? Calvin, Carter and Conrad, all of Washington, and 13 grandchildren. The D.C. community is better for his engagement and we will miss him terribly.. "He's always very, very protective of the Cafritz name, as if it were his own. She was multilingual and had studied art history at the University of Budapest. "Old Washington was very antisemitic, as you know," continues Vidal, whose childhood here as the stepson of lawyer and investor Hugh D. Auchincloss and the grandson of Oklahoma Sen. Thomas Gore gave him an intimate education in Washington society. 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. He has interests too in a booming brokerage firm he helped bankroll, and in a Midwestern shopping-center conglomerate. The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation is already, with its more than $220 million in assets, the largest source of private funds earmarked for the District of Columbia. "Maybe we try a little harder because our family name is well-known," he told a reporter in 1965. 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. 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. It is easy to imagine that for a son of Morris Cafritz, watching great deals go unmade is a kind of hell. As you draw close to the famous burgundy front door, with its surrounding marble, you can see that the paint is cracking and fading to pink; and greenish stains from metal window fixtures are starting to weep down the white brick walls. Calvin, 58, who finds himself a defendant in this lawsuit, is usually described as gentlemanly, methodical and reserved. A document filed in probate court says an initial inventory of her own property exceeded $90 million; however, inventories filed with her will account only for a little more than $80 million. 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. Late last year, Calvins wife Jane was elected to succeed her husband as the foundations president and CEO and he was named chairman emeritus. Devoted father to Laurence (Sherri) Cafritz and Jodi (Mark Bronsky) Cafr In the past two decades Washington has been one of the hottest real estate markets in the country, building new fortunes, multiplying old ones, constantly attracting new players from other cities. But she had a disconcertingly self-serious way of advertising it. sales@governmentexecutiveconsultingservices.com, Copyright 2022 Government Executive Consulting Services. The Washington Harbour purchase, along with a current joint venture to develop a riverfront office and hotel project in Rosslyn, has caused speculation that Conrad Cafritz is increasingly eager to be identified with high-quality, high-profile projects that might bring him more notice. Conrad has six children -- three adopted sons, who were Jennifer's by a first marriage; two daughters with Jennifer; and, with Peggy, 5-year-old Zachary. including, but not limited to, any facilities located in Washington, D.C.; Palm Beach, Florida; or Monte Carlo, Monaco." Receive obituaries from the city or cities of your choice. 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. (His first wife, Jennifer, has since married Laughlin Phillips, son of Duncan and Marjorie Phillips and president of the Phillips Collection.). Calvin Cafritz (1931-2023) | The Georgetowner Even her friends laughed at the way she would seat herself intently in the lobby of the Paris Hotel in Monte Carlo, at a table "very strategically placed," in the words of one, to court the passing society.