Dr. Frances Gruen-Slotkin and her husband, Martin Slotkin, longtime
supporters of Weizmann, have established seven charitable gift
annuities. One of their charitable gift annuities was for themselves.
They made a gift of highly appreciated securities, and are now enjoying a
return of 9.8% of the full value of the stock they donated.
The other six gift annuities were for family members. One was an
immediate payment annuity for a relative close in age to the Slotkins.
She is now enjoying an annuity of 9.9%. The others were deferred gift
annuities, designed to provide retirement income to each beneficiary
beginning at age 65. The Slotkins hope that these gifts will not only
provide support to their heirs, but also cultivate their interest in
Weizmann.
The Slotkins are pleased that their gifts will ultimately be used to
support Weizmann research. Frances received her Ph.D. in biochemistry
in Austria and escaped on the "last boat out" in 1939 with her first
husband. Her father, who was not lucky enough to escape, had been an
ardent Zionist, sparking Frances’s lifelong commitment to the state of
Israel.
Unable to enter the United States, Frances and her first husband
settled in Bolivia. Frances directed the laboratory of a university
hospital. Her son was born in Bolivia, but her husband passed away
before the family was able to immigrate to the United States.
Frances and her son settled in New York in 1946. Over the years, she
worked in physicians’ offices, at hospitals, and at the New York State
Department of Industrial Hygiene, working on environmental issues.
Wherever Frances worked, she always did extra research projects on the
side, following her own scientific curiosity.
Passionate about research, she wants her gifts to provide young
scientists at Weizmann with the equipment and instrumentation necessary
to turn their curiosity into invention and discovery.
Frances and Martin have attended many Weizmann events over the years
in New York, and in Florida, where they now spend the winter.