N.J. School Receives $17 Million Gift
The Golda Och Academy in West Orange, N.J., has received a $17.2 million donation from the estate of philanthropist Eric F. Ross.
The money will support grants for the Lore Ross Neshama program, which allows students at the Solomon Schechter day school to spend the second semester of their senior year in Israel following a week in Eastern Europe. Ross started the program, which is named for his wife, who died in 2009.
Joe Bier, chair of the school’s board of trustees, told the New Jersey Jewish News that the donation would be used for the travel program. The school also will form a committee to make recommendations for other uses of the bequest.
“Just as Eric was one of our most generous supporters during his lifetime, he continues to support us now,” said the academy’s head of school, Dr. Joyce Raynor, in a statement.
The upper school of the academy is named for Ross, a Holocaust survivor from Germany. His longtime support for the Conservative school included $4.5 million for renovations in 2007. Ross died last year at the age of 91.
The school was renamed last year for one of its co-founders after her son, Daniel Och, made a $15 million contribution – then the largest gift in the history of the school, which was founded in 1965.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
