Émigré’s Estate Provides Record Gift to Holocaust Museum

The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum has received the largest donation in its 18-year history, $17.2-million from the estate of a refugee from Nazi Germany, The Washington Post writes.

The bequest from Eric F. Ross, who died in 2010, will boost the Washington museum’s endowment, which is aiming to raise $200-million in the next eight years.

Mr. Ross fled Germany in 1938, served in the U.S. Army in World War II, and later amassed a fortune in the plastics industry. He and his late wife, Lore, gave the museum more than $30-million during their lifetimes, and Mr. Ross served on the institution’s governing board.

“Having experienced firsthand Nazi anti-Semitism and hatred, Eric and Lore Ross became determined and generous investors in Holocaust education,” said Sara J. Bloomfield, the museum’s director.