chicago (ap/jta) | Herman Spertus, one of two brothers who gave generously to the downtown Chicago Jewish institute that bears their name, died of cancer Wednesday, April 5. He was 105.
Spertus was a well-known patron of Jewish organizations, helping to found the Council for Jewish Elderly and North Shore Congregation Israel, according to the Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.
The 82-year-old institute was renamed in 1970 to honor the contributions made by Spertus and his brother Maurice. Maurice Spertus died in 1986.
Spertus served on the board of directors of the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago from 1959 to 1968. He also raised funds for the Haganah, the prestate Jewish militia, and later raised money for Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War.
The Spertus brothers emigrated from Russia in 1923, fleeing Soviet rule. In 1933 they founded a company that eventually became Intercraft Industries, the largest manufacturer of low-cost picture frames in the world.
Herman Spertus was also an artist who in the 1950s frequented the same New York City bars as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.