07/30/2024
Camp Wise Entranceway Named for Federation’s Third President
Stanley B. Horowitz Way, the newly dedicated entrance of Camp Wise in Claridon Township. CJN Photo / Sophie Farrar
COURTNEY BYRNES | CJN
Article reprinted with permission from Cleveland Jewish News
The family of the late Stanley B. Horowitz, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland’s third president, gathered with Jewish community leaders on July 23 as the entranceway to Camp Wise in Claridon Township was dedicated in the name of their family patriarch.
After a tour of the camp and lunch with campers, a ceremony was held with four generations of the family and leaders of the camp, Federation and Mandel Jewish Community Center of Cleveland as the sign for Stanley B. Horowitz Way was unveiled. The dedication was made in recognition of a gift made through the Howard and Melissa Horowitz Giving Fund with the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation to improve the road leading into camp.
“It was very important for us to be here as a family because so much of my family went to camp here or worked here, my parents met here,” Howard Horowitz, Stanley Horowitz’s son, told the Cleveland Jewish News.
As he spoke to the group, he recounted how his father taught him that success is leaving “a lasting mark on something that people will remember.” So, while his success came from turning the money his father left him when he died into a successful company, Zuri Group, which he sold in 2023, he used that success to make a gift and give his father recognition for his work in the Jewish community.
While Stanley Horowitz’s community involvement began with his summers spent at Camp Wise, then located in Painesville, he went on to serve various roles with the Jewish Federation of Cleveland, including as president from 1975 until 1983 when he left to lead the United Jewish Appeal, now known as the Jewish Federations of North America, in New York. In 2006, he moved back to Cleveland, where he died two years later at the age of 74.
His wife, Jill Horowitz, shared with the group how the pair met at age 19 at Camp Wise when he stayed on as a pot washer after the summer camp ended and she was hired for one weekend to play the piano during a program. They continued to spend summers as a family at the camp as he served as the program director and later three of their four children either attended or worked at the camp.
“I know that he would be thrilled to learn he’s still making a contribution to Camp Wise even after more than 60 years,” she said.
While Howard Horowitz knew he wanted to honor his father through giving back to the Cleveland Jewish community which his father loved, he credits the Federation with coming up with the perfect way to do so. Introducing herself as “No. 5,” Erika B. Rudin-Luria, the fifth and current president of the Federation, shared a conversation she had with Stephen H. Hoffman, the fourth president of the Federation, regarding Howard Horowitz’s request to give a gift in his father’s honor.
Hoffman told her when he thinks about Stanley Horowitz, he thinks of his commitment to developing leaders, which often begins with camp counselors, and his love of Camp Wise.
“And so, where better to have Stanley B. Horowitz Way – and Howard shared that it was always his way,” Rudin-Luria said.
During the program, Rabbi Carnie Rose, president and CEO of the Mandel JCC, Rabbi Dan Utley, director of Camp Wise, and Rabbi Shana Nyer, Jewish educator at Camp Wise, also shared remarks and led songs.
Utley told the Cleveland Jewish News the gift for the road repairs, among others, is the kick off of a larger “master plan and master vision” for the camp with expected renovations and changes to take place over the next five to 10 years. Touching on Stanley Horowitz’s legacy as a camp counselor turned community leader, he highlighted the Mandel Myers Fellowship program which offers scholarships and learning workshops to counselors.
“We try our best to help our staff members learn in their chosen profession or interest area through the work that they’re doing here at camp,” he said. “Communication skills, leadership skills, team building skills that they’re getting. The ability to impart their values on the next generation.
“All those are really important life and professional skills, and we teach them how to grow in that way. And I think it’s consistent, it’s a new version of what Stanley would have wanted to do.”
