When George Weinstein was 71 years old, he finally turned a dream into a reality. In 1995, after years of longing to live in Israel, Weinstein and his wife Shirley left their home in Miami and made aliyah.
And, as he had for the 22 years he lived in Milwaukee before retiring in Florida, Weinstein continued to be an active volunteer and philanthropist, said his son, Stanley Weinstein, who lived in Milwaukee for about 12 years.
In the 1940s, the nascent State of Israel, which knew of George through his work on Jewish causes in the U.S., asked him to head its tax authority. But he was not able to make the move at that time. “This was a decision that both he and Shirley regretted all of the years that they remained in the States,” Stanley said.
Some 50 years later, George turned his years of longing into a reality. That is just one example of his father’s character, Stanley said recently in a telephone interview with The Chronicle.
“He never accepted ‘no’ as an answer for anything he wanted to accomplish and he always found the way to make things work,” he said.
Born in New York in 1924, George Weinstein studied business management at the University of Illinois and New York University, earning a B.S. and an M.B.A., respectively.
He went on to become an accountant and worked in his father’s accounting firm.
Weinstein’s business dealings brought him to Milwaukee from the New York area in 1973.
He became an active member of the local Jewish community, helping to start Lake Park Synagogue and serving as its chairman of the board, as well as volunteering for the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
After his death in 2000, the Weinstein family created a “donor advised fund” with the Jewish Community Foundation, the endowment development program of the federation, and from that fund they made a grant to establish the George Weinstein Fellowship, the federation’s comprehensive new young leadership development program.
“[Establishing] the George Weinstein Fellowship is one of a number of things we did to honor our father’s memory,” said Stanley, who added that all of these projects have a common theme.
“They emulate [George Weinstein] in getting young people involved in Jewish causes and tying [those causes] in with Israel. The George Weinstein fellows represent a broad cross-section of Jews — a microcosm of the spectrum — and the fellowship teaches them to learn from one another and deal with Jewish issues collectively.”
Bert Bilsky, executive director of the foundation, lauded the Weinstein family for its contribution.
“It’s remarkable that this family, who for all intents and purposes has left Milwaukee was nonetheless willing to provide the funds needed to build young leadership for the future of the Milwaukee Jewish community.
“We are so grateful for their generosity in providing us with those funds,” Bilsky said.
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