Philanthropist Jack Kay of Florida dies

WASHINGTON (JTA) – Jack Kay, a longtime contributor to numerous Jewish causes in the United States and in Israel, has died.

Kay, who gave a million dollars to Israel’s Magen David Adom and to the Mandel Jewish Community Center in Palm Beach Gardens for its early childhood center, died April 21 at the age of 87.

“He was one of those types who gave very broadly. I think he had a real sense of how everything was interconnected in the community,” said Laura Applebaum, executive director of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington.

Learning about charity and community from his parents, Kay gave to numerous groups, including Beit Kay in Israel, the Jewish Theological Seminary, the American Technion Society and Birthright Israel.

He also helped fund the Abraham S. and Jack Kay Chair in Israel Studies at the University of Maryland, the Jack and Ina Kay Hospice at Hadassah Hospital and the Kay Spiritual Life Center at American University.

Kay began working with his father and went on to become chairman of Kay Management Co. Inc., of Silver Spring, Md. He helped found the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.