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Her hair was still a lacquered black, heavily dressed as always at the back of her head. Recognizably brothers, the youngest of them nearing his fifties, they were a striking presence at the party. The complaint further asserts that "when Decedent allegedly executed the purported Will and Codicil that have been offered for probate herein, Decedent lacked a sound and disposing mind and was not capable of executing a valid deed or contract. GECS offers business development, bid proposal writing training, and resume preparation services for individuals seeking employment with the Federal Government, and provides knowledge management services to assist businesses with succession planning. But Conrad has rolled out impressive legal artillery, captained by former White House counsel Lloyd N. Cutler, and seems prepared to dig in for a long siege -- at least long enough, perhaps, to wring a settlement from his opponents. "He just wanted to build, build, build, build!" "Carter, he always did what the other two did," says Casey. There were of course the grand exceptions like the Warburgs, and Walter Lippmann, and Arthur Krock . And it is over the foundation, established to memorialize the name and works of the Cafritz family, that the Cafritz family is now at war. In the 1400 block of Spring Road NW is a row of seven almost identical walk-up apartment buildings. Conrad and Carter Cafritz are pursuing this stake in two ways: One is a lawsuit naming all her beneficiaries and her executors -- William P. Rogers, Martin Atlas and Riggs National Bank. 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,. I hope they will. Carter appears something of a cipher even to old family associates. That task was left to her closest relatives. . He began with houses, ultimately building about 10,000 homes in the Washington area. ", She kept up appearances even in the privacy of her home, where she drank Scotch from a decanter in the living room. Throughout his career he was recognized not only for his natural intuitive insight but also for his in-depth study and acute analysis of every possibility for investment in real estate. Ways to honor Calvin Cafritz's life and legacy. He resigned seven years later to form Cafritz Enterprises. He was 91 years of. sales@governmentexecutiveconsultingservices.com, Copyright 2022 Government Executive Consulting Services. From the others he solicited their names, bending to murmur prompts into the ear of the star. 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. Michael J. Dowling, who became the Cafritzes' butler in the early '60s, describes a tragically common decline. "Watch Washington Grow to One Million," he urged in newspaper ads of the '40s, a slogan he changed to "Watch Washington Grow to Two Million" after the 1950 census counted more than 1.4 million in the metropolitan area. She also made bequests of $100,000 each to 10 of her 13 grandchildren -- excluding the children Conrad adopted, to whom he has remained a committed father. At the same time, he and Tompkins had the foresight to buy the land now known as Pentagon City. Some basic help and starters when you have to write a tribute to someone you love. Conrad's strategy has been diversity. . "Very sort of philosophic, sort of honorable." Conrad's ex-wife, former D.C. School Board Chairwoman Peggy Cooper Cafritz, recently resurfaced after her art-filled home was destroyed in a fire last year. He has interests too in a booming brokerage firm he helped bankroll, and in a Midwestern shopping-center conglomerate. Implicitly, Carter and Conrad Cafritz are also challenging her designation of Calvin, the eldest, as the only son who will have a future role in running the foundation, which already controls assets of more than $220 million. "Those were her orders: The Scotch should never be let go beneath the neck of the decanter. She could no longer make an entrance, of course. The best poems for funerals, memorial services., and cards. "She was good to me, and she was a good woman in my eyes," he says. There are no events at this time. It's surprising how much a musical selection can affect mourning. "He took me into the kitchen and showed me how the cook would leave coffee for him in the morning," remembers the friend. Information and advice to help you cope with the death of someone important to you. And Gwendolyn's estate is not, in the end, the only -- or even the main thing -- at stake. Calvin Cafritz Obituary It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Calvin Cafritz (Rockville, Maryland), who passed away on January 12, 2023, at the age of 91, leaving to mourn family and friends. Cafritz was a tireless promoter of the city. But Carter and Conrad Cafritz are not named in their mother's will. In 2021 alone, the foundation awarded some 430 grants to 413 nonprofits. Finally, there is an emotional legacy to be earned -- or perhaps shed. Two and a half years later Gwendolyn Cafritz was dead of cancer, at 78, and the following summer -- three years after that final party -- her two younger sons filed suit in D.C. Superior Court to. Her two younger sons have also filed a separate petition that pursues only the marital trust. He was an excellent listener and always got both the big picture and important details by asking insightful questions. "There were moments when you wanted to go around and have everybody wear not just a name tag, but a bio,"says their good friend Margaret Lenzner. Conrad and his first wife entertained often in their Georgetown house in the '60s, giving parties -- often liberal fund-raisers -- that offered cozy intimations of radical chic. 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. Meanwhile, for as long as it takes, Conrad's childhood home turns a sleeping face to Foxhall Road, drapes drawn at all the windows. Baron and Baroness Constantine Stackelberg . 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. He is a leading supporter of the Global India Fund, and the Ukapav Indian-American Scholarship Foundation. "That what she wanted was pointless is not for us to judge.". One quarter to his widow, in a "marital trust" that would pay her interest until her death and give her the power to "appoint" the ultimate heirs to the principal; if she did not exercise this power, the principal would pass to the Cafritzes' sons upon her death. In addition to his loving family, he leaves behind a long-time member of the family household, Lilian Punzalan, and countless admiring friends. Says a friend, "He thinks they're a lot of fuddy-duddies living in the 17th century." He had emigrated from Russia as a boy with his family, which stopped briefly in New York before settling down to run a grocery store at 24th and P streets NW. Cafritz was a native and longtime resident of Washington, DC. We hoped to let the public know about these outstanding individuals and to send a message to other excellent government employees that their dedication and considerable accomplishments are valued." There are hints too that he has social ambitions on Gwendolyn's scale, if not exactly of her type. Perhaps one day Calvin, or Conrad, or some Cafritz now unknown, will find a way to bring together the opposite forms of ambition that thrived in this house, and give a second start to the dynasty that never was. We welcome you to provide your thoughts and memories on our Tribute Wall. At seated dinners for 22, she entertained ambassadors and justices, senators and Cabinet secretaries. In 1904, with a $1,400 loan from his father, he started out running a coal yard at Fourth and K streets NW, then a saloon near Fourth and O. (Conrad and Peggy were both involved in Barry's first election campaign, and Peggy is the godmother of Barry's son, Christopher.) He is also survived by his three children, Elliot Cafritz (Lauren), Anthony Cafritz (Pearl), and Elizabeth Peltekian(Viken); five grandchildren, Sam, Alexander, Seb, Aram, and Van; three stepchildren, Olivia Rubenstein, Irina Rubenstein, and James Speyer; and two step-grandchildren Evan and MJSpeyer. Food has always been a go-to for people in mourning. Calvin Cafritz, the eldest son of real estate developer Morris Cafritz, died last week at the age of 91. "When I heard about it, I wrote Conrad and told him I thought it was a horrible thing he and his brother were doing to his mother," says Dorothy L. Casey, a retired secretary who worked for the Cafritz Co. for decades, reflecting a widespread tendency to speak of Carter as his brother's satellite. 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 . 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. Kateryna Pyatybratova directs the centers Cafritz Awards program. "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. In plain English, Gwendolyn Cafritz's two younger sons are contending in court that their mother was too feebleminded to write her will; document requests filed in court suggest they may try to prove she was incapacitated by alcoholism. His most notable contribution was in the streamlined art deco apartment houses designed, either singly or together, by architects Alvin L. Aubinoe and Harry L. Edwards, including the Majestic, the Hightowers, the Empire and the since-demolished Gwenwood on 19th Street NW. Rachel M. Ratowsky, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Tuesday, February 2, 2021. 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. Calvin Cafritz, their eldest son, became Board Chairman in 1989 and in 1993, he was elected President and CEO of the Foundation. Some observers speculate that Conrad, hardheaded real estate man that he is, simply wants some say in the disposition of the real estate owned -- in many cases, co-owned -- by the foundation and Gwendolyn's estate. And {Gwendolyn} was just considered comical, and there were a lot of jokes about her. She had not given a party for eight years, and even then, she had been memorializing the past; the real tradition, the old wine being decanted on this lambent June evening, had been decades in storage. Following the death of his father, Calvin became president of The Cafritz Co., Cafritz Construction Co. and Ambassador, Inc. in 1964. 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. 1050 30th St. NW Cafritz 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. In the last half-century, the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation has awarded more than $507 million in grants. "Calvin is a very sweet, very nice person," says D.C. lawyer Max N. Berry. As time went on, she lost complete control, and she had to drink more. He was 91. In the '50s, Cafritz had an early conviction that the future direction of downtown Washington was along the K Street corridor, and before his death in 1964 he built a dozen buildings in the "new" downtown, mostly on K and I streets NW. ", Conrad and Carter Cafritz have chosen instead the purgatory of probate court, where their complaints suggest less lovely memories. There is a poignant moment in Gwendolyn's 1956 interview with Murrow when she points out a portrait of herself that hangs on the wall. ", Conrad Cafritz is, in a word fondly used by friends, weird. Conrad is angrily aware, say friends, that his success will always be explained away. Today he shares office space and support staff with Conrad's growing interests, but for the most part pursues his own deals. Cafritzs encouragement has particularly strengthened the Washington-area communitys appreciation of textiles as a vital form of artistic expression and global cultural heritage.". Mild, self-effacing, decorous, humble, and unfailingly courteous, Mr. Cafritz led by example and always with a smile. 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. And he still fights his battles with a surprising intensity, rarely bothering with the shake-hands-and-forget-it bonhomie common in Washington business. 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. "She felt that was the end, when she couldn't function socially.". 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. If she gave them an order, they took it lightly, because she liked to drink. He was 91. 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. She was forever trying to tell me some long story I could never make head or tail of. ", While she cultivated the mighty, Morris looked closer to home, helping to found the Washington Community Chest, becoming an activist in local Jewish groups. It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Calvin Cafritz (Rockville, Maryland), who passed away on January 12, 2023, at the age of 91, leaving to mourn family and friends. The same plain white damask draped the table, with plain white damask napkins tied around settings of her heavy Georg Jensen flatware. After Morris Cafritz died, his close associate Martin Atlas became executive vice president of the company, and vice president and treasurer of the Cafritz Foundation, while Gwendolyn Cafritz ultimately became president of both.