Jul 18, 2023

Elisabeth Frank Creates Endowment Fund to Honor Daughter

A German citizen, Elisabeth Frank came to New York in 1960 on a two-year contract for an international firm headquartered in Hamburg, and never left. A few years later, she made the most decisive, far-reaching and overarching decision of her life — she became a Jew. “I had an epiphany,” she said. “I was living amongst a sizeable Jewish community and yet was working for a German company. I was overwhelmed with guilt at being born a German. I vowed to do everything in my power to help Jews and do restitution.”

With the support of her husband, Stephen Frank, z”l, Elisabeth became a proud Lion of Judah more than 30 years ago. Years later, Elisabeth became a Forever Lion by naming the Greater Miami Jewish Federation as a charitable beneficiary in their retirement plan.

In 2015, Elisabeth made a direct distribution from her IRA to Federation to create the Sabina Frank Holtzman Lion of Judah Endowment fund in honor of her daughter, Sabina. She was able to make this tax-smart gift through the IRA Charitable Rollover, which allows taxpayers age 70½ or older to transfer up to $100,000 annually from their IRA accounts directly to charity without having to recognize the distribution as income.

“My contributions to Jewish life and volunteering are meaningful to me and my help now extends for over 45 years,” said Elisabeth. “I am proud to know that my daughter, Sabina Frank Holtzman, and my son, Dr. Adam Frank, will step up where I will eventually leave off. Like me, Sabina will forever be a Lion in this community.”

More of Elisabeth’s story can be found in the Book of Life.