Riverdale philanthropist, Erica Jesselson dies at 86
Erica Jesselson, a renowned Jewish philanthropist and founding member of Salanter Akiba Riverdale Academy, died on March 12, in her Riverdale home. She was 86.
Ms. Jesselson was born Erica Pappenheim in Vienna in 1922 to a Jewish family that traced its German lineage back more than 300 years. She and her sister were among 10,000 Jewish children evacuated on the Kindertransport trains to England during World War II. After reuniting in 1940, the Pappenheim family moved to Brooklyn.
Nine years later, she married Ludwig Jesselson and the couple moved to Riverdale in 1958. In the ensuing decades, the Jesselsons' generosity would make an indelible mark on the Jewish community in Riverdale and throughout the city.
"Everybody has an Erica story - a story of her thoughtfulness, her forthrightness, her kindness and her generosity," said Blu Greenberg, a friend of Ms. Jesselson for more than 40 years.
Mr. Jesselson, a successful commodities trader, and Mrs. Jesselson were the leading forces behind establishing the SAR Academy, which spurred the reshaping of the demographics of Riverdale, bringing an influx of Orthodox Jewish families to settle here.
Rabbi Binyamin Krauss, principal of SAR, referred to Ms. Jesselson as the school's "grandmother" and said, "she enabled all of us to learn Torah." The Jesselsons, he continued, "redefined Jewish philanthropy, bringing unprecedented generosity to countless institutions."
The Jesselsons were benefactors of the Riverdale YM-YWHA, the Riverdale Jewish Center and Salanter Akiba of Riverdale High School, and provided the funds to start up Hatzalah of Riverdale, an ambulance service that caters to Riverdale's Orthodox Jews.
One institution that frequently benefited from the Jesselsons' charity was Yeshiva University.
Ms. Jesselson was chairwoman of the Yeshiva University Museum, which she and her husband founded in 1973. Through them, the university was able to acquire rare Judaica and make its collections more accessible to students and scholars.
In 1983, Ms. Jesselson was presented with the Distinguished Service Award at Yeshiva University's 59th Annual Hanukkah Dinner and Convocation. At the May 1998 commencement, she received an honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters.
"Erica was quite simply a magnificent woman of extraordinary intellect and unwavering devotion, who was involved in every phase of Jewish education, art and culture throughout the United States and Israel," said Yeshiva University's president, Richard Joel.
In Jerusalem, where the Jesselsons owned a home, the couple financed a synagogue at the Haifa Technion, founded a religious school for girls, endowed a program for rabbinic scholarship at Bar- Ilan University and helped plan and build Shaare Zedek Medical Center, where Ms. Jesselson served as national president of the American Friends of Shaare Zedek Medical Center.
Ms. Jesselson also served on the board of the UJA-Federation of New York and was vice chairman of the Center for Jewish History and a co-founder of Partnership in Excellence in Jewish Education.
Despite Ms. Jesselson's busy schedule and many commitments to one board or another, she often took time out of her day to remember the little things, her friend recalled.
Ms. Greenberg said that Ms. Jesselson was a consummate hostess who never forgot birthdays and loved to send personal thank you cards.
"Acts of kindness made her happy," Ms. Greenberg said.
Ms. Jesselson was pre-deceased by her husband Ludwig. She is survived by her three sons Michael, of Manhattan, Daniel, of Scarsdale, N.Y. and Benjamin, of Israel; her sister, Lucy Lang, of Riverdale; 20 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
A funeral was held at the Riverdale Jewish Center on March 12, followed by burial in Israel.
