Maks Etingin has taken advantage of the opportunity to roll IRA
assets tax-free to charity. His IRA gifts, along with outright gifts
made by him and his wife, Rochelle, have been combined to establish an
Endowed Scholars Program.
Maks Etingin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Orsid Realty
Corp., has taken advantage of the opportunity to directly transfer IRA
assets tax-free to Weizmann, having contributed the maxium amounts
allowable in past years. These gifts, along with other gifts he and his
wife, Rochelle, have made to the Institute, have been combined to
establish the Etingin Scholars Program, which provides Masters and
Doctoral Scholarships and Postdoctoral Fellowships to students in the
Institute's Graduate School.
Maks is enormously thankful that he is now in the position to help
others, considering the help he received as a young man. Maks, his
parents and his brother survived the holocaust in their home town of
Wilno, Poland, because of the help of a Christian family that
courageously kept them in hiding. Few, if any, other Jewish families
from Wilno survived intact. Sadly, his parents each lost many family
members.
After the war, Maks came to the United States on a student exchange
visa and was then "adopted" by the Jewish community in Bridgeport,
Connecticut, which paid for his college education.
When the Pension Protection Act of 2006, allowing tax-free charitable
IRA rollovers for individuals 70 1/2 or older, was signed into law,
Maks jumped at the opportunity. Maks understands that IRA assets would
be taxed more heavily than other assets when left to heirs. He likes the
charitable IRA rollover because all the money goes to Weizmann.
According to Maks, "Nothing gets skimmed off. I get more milage for the
money."
Maks and Rochelle frequently attend Weizmann events in New York and
visited the Institute a few years ago. Rochelle is a third generation
Israeli. Maks and Rochelle support a number of Israeli charities,
including Ben Gurion University and Yad Vashem, where they have endowed a
panorama in memory of the Righeous Among the Nations, including the
Boratynski family who saved Maks' life.
Maks and Rochelle have two daughters, who Maks proudly describes as
"the greatest accomplishments of his life." One is a doctor and the
other a lawyer. And, they have six grandchildren.
Maks credits his survival during the holocaust to "thousands of
miracles". Maks and Rochelle are greatly impressed with the research
being done at Weizmann, and hope that their gifts will contribute to
miracles in cancer research that will save and improve lives of
countless others.