by Linda S. Haase on August 18, 2025
Philanthropist Lester Crown is Jewish Chicago's patriarch, a leader among leaders.
A prominent force in Chicago's civic and Jewish communities for 75 years, Crown recently celebrated his 100th birthday.
"Lester has had an absolutely immeasurable impact on the Chicago Jewish community, the Jewish people and the State of Israel," said Lonnie Nasatir, JUF President. "Under his leadership, the Crown family's philanthropy has enriched every facet of Jewish life, from Jewish day schools and summer camps to Israel advocacy and Israel Studies programs to outreach initiatives engaging teens and young parents in Jewish life.
"It would be impossible to overstate the importance of his generosity and his example in weaving the fabric of our community," Nasatir said.
Every year since 1969, Crown and Renée, his wife of almost 75 years, have hosted the annual JUF Advance & Major Gifts dinner-the single most significant fundraising event on the Chicago Jewish community's calendar-raising an aggregate of well over $1 billion to support Jewish life and Jewish lives.
"The real gift was the creation of a pathway for Chicago Jewish business leaders to give back-and it has become a tremendous legacy for all who have participated," said Lester's and Renee's daughter, Sara Crown Star." Together, they have built one of the strongest and most generous Jewish communities in the country!"
Held every fall, the event kicks off the JUF Annual Campaign for the coming calendar year, raising tens of millions of dollars in a single night to ensure the community enters each new year in a position of strength.
How did this event become such a tour de force?
"The only thing more powerful than Lester's generosity is his example," said Dr. Steven B. Nasatir, JUF Executive Vice Chairman, who has worked with Crown for more than 50 years. "Lester is held in such high esteem that his actions inspire others to follow. He and Renée have made this their signature event. In recent years, they passed the baton to their children and grandchildren, who have done them proud in breathing new ideas and excitement into the event."
It was only fitting that Crown chaired Chicago's community-wide celebrations of Israel's 50th and 60th anniversary years: The family's philanthropy in Israel pre-dates the establishment of the modern State, and they have been instrumental in funding Israel's hospitals, anti-poverty initiatives and educational institutions.
"Year after year over decades, Grandpa visited Israel and stepped up to provide leadership for so many important causes-innovation, education, research, job creation, and the arts--for the continued prosperity, longevity, and growth of the State," said granddaughter Amanda Crown.
Crown has known every prime minister in the history of the modern State of Israel, starting with David Ben Gurion himself, and has served as a confidante and advisor for many of them.
The Chairman Emeritus of Henry Crown and Company, Crown is a business magnate who inherited--and then grew--an empire started by his father, Henry, and Uncles Sol and Irving, with their founding of Material Services mining company in 1919. The enterprise that began by selling construction products--including some of those used to build the iconic Civic Opera House and the Merchandise Mart--became a wide-ranging portfolio that now or at one time held stakes in ventures from General Dynamics and Hilton Hotels to the Empire State Building and the Chicago Bulls.
A widely respected business leader, Crown famously mobilized the corporate community to advocate for the creation of a new Cook County Hospital and to make the expansion of O'Hare International Airport a reality.
"If you could only make one call to tap into Chicago's civic and business leadership, Lester Crown is the one," U.S. Senator and Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) once told
Chicago Life
magazine.
Beyond his accomplishments in business, Crown has been a lifelong champion of wide-ranging civic causes. He is chair emeritus of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, is a life trustee of Northwestern University and The Aspen Institute, and the former Chairman of the Executive of the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
"What is truly unique about Lester is his humility, given all he has achieved in his lifetime," said Lonnie Nasatir. "There simply is no greater mensch. It is so extraordinary that this great leader has such a kind, gentle demeanor."
The family history that began with Lester's paternal grandparents, Lithuanian immigrants Arie and Ida Krinsky (Arie changed the family name to Crown when Henry was a boy) exemplifies the American Dream. But members of the family have never forgotten their humble beginnings--or their Jewish roots.
"My grandfather has spent his entire life educating himself and others, meeting with everyone from subject matter experts to world leaders to maximize what can be done to help Israel," said granddaughter Stephanie Crown Star. "His actions have demonstrated his lifelong commitment to strengthening the Jewish community worldwide."
Crown often recounts how his father, Henry, had once instructed him and his cousin, Corky Goodman, that if Israel were ever threatened to the point of possible annihilation, they were to send the Jewish State everything they had.
"Dad said: We can start over, they can't," Lester told a rapt JUF board of directors during a tribute to his 90th birthday in 2015.
Crown and his extended family allocated a significant portion of their business profits to create a foundation to give back to the country and community that provided them opportunities to prosper. After more than 60 years of family grantmaking under the name Arie and Ida Crown Memorial, in 2009 the foundation was reinvigorated as Crown Family Philanthropies.
Today, 60 family members across generations come together to set strategy and guide the foundation's extensive philanthropy, which is at the heart of the Jewish and greater Chicago communities.
"Lester has served as a perpetual source of strength and support during the most difficult-and the most joyous-times in modern Jewish history," said JUF Board Chair Wendy C. Abrams. "On behalf of a grateful community, we celebrate this extraordinary centennial birthday of an extraordinary man."
