Aquatics Endowment Fund Honors Extraordinary Woman
When the Katz family lost matriarch Jean “Sata” Katz z”L in the fall of 2021, they thought carefully about how to best honor her long and remarkable life. They started by making a list of places where she spent time and found extraordinary joy.
One of her special places was the Peck Aquatic Center at the JCC. Jean was an outstanding multi-sport athlete throughout her life. She particularly enjoyed swimming, and she did so nearly every day into her eighties.
Swimming is a hobby Jean shared with her son, Moshe. “We both liked to swim at the JCC in the morning. Frequently, we would run into each other there, and she always acted so surprised and delighted to see me. She, like me, found tremendous peace and comfort in the water,” he said.
Jean Katz was known as “Sata” – her first grandchild’s mispronunciation of safta, the Hebrew word for grandmother. The Katz family opened the Jean “Sata” Katz Aquatics Endowment Fund at the JCC to “keep Mom’s name alive in a place she loved to spend time.” Sata never knew about this fund but had she known, Moshe believes that “she would giggle and be so honored – and she would be glad that each year, money from the fund will help ensure that others in our community have this wonderful place to enjoy the water as we have.”
Endowment funds are an important source of financial support for the many programs of the JCC. As the Katz family’s story demonstrates, they can be a meaningful way to remember or honor a special person or occasion. Funds are held at the Jewish Community Foundation of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, and annual earnings support the designated program in perpetuity.
For more information about opening an endowment fund, contact Elyse Cohn, Chief Development Officer.
Click here to read more stories of impact from the 2021-22 Annual Report.
