The Gift of Giving: A Schaefer Family Legacy

Making the world a better place is "woven into the DNA of America and Jewish culture," in the words of a professional fundraiser who has worked with the Schaefer family for years.

The trajectory of great giving in the United States is often characterized by the classic rags-to-riches personal histories of this nation's notable philanthropists-Jewish or not-and indeed that was the case for Rowland Schaefer. Like many of this country's most successful entrepreneurs, Rowland Schaefer endured a tragic, poverty-stricken childhood. The son of immigrants, the family abandoned by the father, eight-year-old Rowland worked to support his mother and younger brother, shoveling coal and delivering groceries. Through sheer willpower and a phenomenal work ethic, coupled with honesty and good cheer, Rowland Schaefer overcame grave difficulties and went on to run a succession of profitable businesses. The last and most widely recognized of these was Claire's, a chain of stores which became an international retail sensation and a darling of Wall Street.

Rowland's business acumen, with the robust support of his wife, Sylvia, and various of his five children, rewarded the family not with mere financial security but with great wealth. When Rowland suffered a catastrophic stroke, his daughters Marla and Bonnie assumed top executive positions, and before he and Sylvia died-just days apart-the company had been sold for billions of dollars.

As Marla and Bonnie Schaefer emphasize, running a family business can be physically and emotionally draining. The work never stops because the responsibilities never end; a family business creates its own dynamics, its own burdens. Despite many challenges, the sisters learned by their father's example, not only in running Claire's but in the practice of charitable giving. They have reached out to specialists in family business transitions to gain perspective and interpersonal skills.

Just as Rowland Schaefer gave away more and more of his personal fortune as his wealth increased, so Marla and Bonnie have followed his lead. Rowland and Sylvia Schaefer started a private foundation to ensure their ongoing commitment to making substantial gifts, and the sisters have become the custodians of that foundation.

This book traces the arc of this family's outsize financial gifts, beginning with the patriarch Rowland Schaefer and his wife, Sylvia, both now deceased, through their children and grandchildren, and beyond, to generations yet unborn. It can serve both to illuminate past and present charitable endeavors and to inspire equally compassionate acts of tzedakah in the future. In the words of Bonnie Schaefer, one of Rowland's and Sylvia's daughters, "We're so blessed to have been given so much from our parents, it is imperative upon us to do the same for others."

To create great wealth and then pass it along for the betterment of all people-for all living creatures, and the health of the planet-constitutes a legacy. The Schaefer family's legacy originated in a successful American business, yet it has touched people around the globe.

-from the Introduction, by Nan Chase