Live in: Encino
Occupation: Tibor Neumann retired from a career in residential and commercial real estate construction on his 80th birthday in January, 2007. Erika Neumann, a CPA, was an accountant for Tibor's construction firm. Both remain principals in the business.
Family details: Two married daughters, Roberta Shuchatowitz (married to Yakov)
and Linda Potash (married to Bruce). Four grandchildren.
Joined The Foundation family in: Opened an Endowment Fund and a Donor Advised Fund in December, 2006.
Personal information and community involvement: Tibor was born and raised in Slovakia. At age 17, he was captured by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz. In 1945, he was liberated by the Russian Army. Erika was born in Vienna, Austria. At age six, she fled to Cuba with her family. The couple met and married in New York after the war. Erika is active at Valley Beth Shalom, where she is founding chair of Hazak, a program of lifelong enrichment for members age 55 and up.
Why we joined The Foundation: "We are personally acquainted with members of The Foundation's Board of Trustees and Advisory Board, and we felt that The Foundation was most qualified to ferret out organizations that best fit our philanthropic interests. We chose to place our endowment with the Israel Grants program, because it has awarded funds to many programs that we personally support, including Israel in Crisis, Ethiopian Jewry and Israeli hospitals.
Focus of our philanthropy: In Los Angeles, Jewish Family Services. In Israel, programs supporting the poor, new immigrants and emergency healthcare.
"I know first-hand how it feels to be poor and an immigrant. I want to help others in the U.S. and Israel who are facing similar circumstances," said Erika. "I want to symbolically repay the generosity of those American-Jewish organizations working in Europe after the war, who provided me with food, clothing and medical attention after I was liberated from Auschwitz," said Tibor.
How we plan to instill philanthropic values in the next generation: "Our daughters and their husbands are already philanthropic in their own right. Our oldest grandson, Joel Shuchatowitz, volunteered for the Sova Food Bank and recently finished heading a project at Yula benefiting the Children's Hospital. The younger ones have done charitable work through their schools and synagogues, and we hope to reinforce those values through The Foundation's Community Youth Foundation."