Ellen Marcus shares her family’s transformative generosity

Recently I attended a special screening of the film, “Who Are the Marcuses?” at Movies of Lake Worth. The documentary was the Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival’s closing night film and was sponsored by the Mandel JCC. The film, directed by Israeli filmmaker Matthew Mishory, reveals the remarkable story of one family: Howard, Lottie and their daughter, Ellen. Howard and Lottie changed the future with the single largest donation ever made to the State of Israel by bequeathing their substantial wealth to Ben-Gurion University of the Negev with a clear objective of advancing the study of water management. There were Interviews with Warren Buffett, Israel’s President Yitzhak Herzog and Ellen Marcus among other prominent figures.

Ellen, who serves as Vice Chair on Ben-Gurion University’s Board of Governors, introduced the film and participated in a post-screening conversation. Following the presentation, Ellen shared how she inspired her parent’s historic gift to BGU.

“My parents weren’t always wealthy. Around 1979, when they sold some Berkshire shares to buy their retirement house in Southern California, one A share of Berkshire Hathaway was worth about $80. In 2016, when I began distributing shares to the Americans for BGU (previously known as American Associates, Ben-Gurion University), one share was worth about $198,000. And now, one A share is worth about $610,000. In 2003 or 2004 when my father was in his mid-90s I suggested to him that my parents have an attorney review their estate plans to make sure that everything was in order as  their estate-planning attorney had died years ago. They hired a new attorney who after reviewing their Wills and assets asked whether I, as the sole Executor and beneficiary of their estate, was aware of what lay before me. When they said ‘no,’ she recommended that we have a meeting when I came to visit them next. During that meeting, she told me that my parents’ estate was worth about $200 million. I almost fell off my chair! I had NO idea! Who needs $200 million? I didn’t want to have to manage $200 million when I was eager to retire. So, when we left the attorney’s office, I said to my parents, ‘Please, just leave enough so Jen (my only child) and I are never hungry or homeless and give the rest away. My parents already had a very close personal relationship with Philip Gomperts, the former Director of the Southern California region of American Associates, BGU and had already made at least one substantial donation for water research there. It was an easy decision for them to decide where to leave their money”.

Ellen shared details of her involvement with BGU

“When my parents decided to leave their estate to Ben-Gurion U, the university president asked my father for $20 million up front. My father asked me whether I thought he should give them the $20 million then, or let it continue to grow until the time came to distribute their estate. I responded that I was sure that the university needed the money as soon as possible and, if my parents didn’t need it, I thought he should give it to them, which they did. Because of that gift, the main campus in Be’er Sheva was to be named in my parents’ honor. My father insisted that I be included in the campus name, which is now known as the Marcus Family Campus. My parents, my daughter and I, along with Philip Gomperts, went to BGU for the dedication of the campus name in March 2005. During that visit, I made a decision to do whatever I could to ensure that my parents’ gift, which would have been my inheritance, was wisely used. The following year, I was asked to join the BGU Board of Governors and, in 2006, I was asked to join the Board of Trustees of the American Associates, BGU (renamed Americans for BGU a few years ago). I accepted both invitations and I’ve been involved with BGU since 2006. I chair an A4BGU committee called the Marcus Endowment Advisory Committee which I was asked to create and chair in 2016 when the Endowment distributions began. Every year we review with the BGU president the budget proposal for the $18-20 million that is distributed annually from the Endowment. We review the cumulative spending on each funded project and what the total estimated expense of each project will be. My committee votes on whether to approve the president’s proposed budget. If we approve it, which we have every year so far, the proposal goes to the A4BGU Executive Committee for its approval and then to the general A4BGU board. Only then is the money distributed to BGU. Through my committee, I am able to keep some control over how the Marcus Endowment money is spent and that is how I fulfill my pledge to do whatever I can to ensure that the money distributed from the Endowment is spent wisely. Most gifts to universities are made for specific projects or programs and cannot be used for anything else. The way my parents structured their gift is unique in that only 10% of the annual distributions must be used for water research. The remaining 90% of the funds are available for the university president to spend as he/she deems appropriate. This gives the president the ability to direct the funds where they are most needed. Because of this, BGU has been able to fund the development of another campus currently named the “North Campus” which will double the size of the university’s footprint in Be’er Sheva and fund many valuable projects which had been on the presidents’ wish list for many years. One such project is the atomic clock. Professor Ron Folman has completed building the prototype of the first optical frequency lattice atomic clock in Israel. This is one of a few dozen around the world and is widely considered the most accurate machine ever built; a time-keeping center for the state of Israel. It will disseminate accurate time to different institutions in Israel (as the GPS is becoming unreliable). BGU’s Yb atomic optical-frequency clock stands at the heart of this effort and will serve as the primary frequency standard. BGU is the only Israeli lab that is part of a European consortium intended to make the optical-frequency atomic clock the International standard. A first working prototype has already been delivered to the Accubeat company and it is now working in Jerusalem. This is the first clock of its kind in Israel. BGU is now developing the next-generation design with even smaller dimensions and more accuracy”.

“These are just a few examples of how BGU is benefitting from the Marcus gift and will continue to benefit from it in perpetuity”, Ellen continued. “One of BGU’s tag lines is, ‘From the desert for the world’. The Endowment has funded research projects that have real-world application, some immediate and some long term. Who would have guessed in 2004 when my parents made their bequest to BGU that water scarcity would become the ‘tip of the spear’ of climate change? But it has. BGU has been the world’s leader in water research for many years. Much of the other research done at BGU is also of global importance: BGU houses Israel’s Center for Cybersecurity and Israel’s Center for Autism. In 2023 the university announced the creation of the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change whose purpose is to translate scientific knowledge about climate change into best practices that can be followed by government and industry”.

Ellen expressed how her parents inspired her philanthropic work

“My parents inspired my philanthropic work primarily by teaching me to be a giver, not a taker. I have made sizable donations to A4BGU, Jewish organizations and animal rescue organizations. My father and I were very close and I’m very much like him. When I was a child, he used to tell me a fable about two flies who fell into a pot of cream. They struggled and struggled to get out of the bowl, but the sides of the bowl were too slippery. Eventually one of the flies gave up and drowned. The other fly kept struggling to get out. In time the cream turned into butter and the fly rested on the butter and eventually was able to fly away. That story taught me to be persistent. That story became code between my father and me and in difficult situations we would say, ‘remember the story of the two flies.’ Which was ‘code’ for ‘this, too, shall pass’”.

Ellen shared her average day

“Busy! I try to exercise almost every morning. I have hundreds of emails to go through daily. I volunteer for 3-4 hours weekly at the Austin Humane Society and for A4BGU/BGU as requested. Last year, and so far this year, I have traveled all over the US for screenings of ‘Who are the Marcuses?’ at film festivals and private screenings. I attend virtually all the A4BGU Board and Executive Committee meetings and travel to Europe and to Israel for BGU meetings. Until a year ago, we had at least one dog or cat but our last adoptee died last year. Since then we have fostered a shelter dog as much as my travel schedule allows. We have two young grandsons who live close by and I babysit or take them out several times a week”.

Ellen expressed what she hopes audiences take away from seeing the film

“Matthew Mishory, the film director, wanted viewers to learn about my parents, the history of water research in Israel, about BGU and about the importance of philanthropy. In talkbacks after the film, I always tell the audience that although very few people have the wealth that my parents had to donate, we all have 24 hours per day, or 168 hours per week. Most of the people who view the film can volunteer 2-3 hours per week at some nonprofit about which they are passionate. Besides the above-mentioned charitables, I also volunteer at my synagogue and I help people who have lost or found a pet by providing tips to help reunite the pet with its family. I am a founding member of The TRAPRS (Trapping, Rescue and Pet Recovery Service), a 501(c)3 organization with which I was deeply involved from 2019-2023”.

Ellen shared her words of wisdom

“Give of yourself. You will feel good doing so! Give your money if you can, but definitely give of your time to a cause(s) about which you are passionate. As JFK said, ‘Each of us can make a difference and all of us should try’”.