Sid & Joan Marantz

Sid Joan and Wendy Marantz with Marvin Schotland

About Sid & Joan Marantz and their family:
Sid Marantz is co-owner of Cooperative Purchasers, a family business and leading distributor of quality food ingredients serving the food, pharmaceutical and nutritional industries. Joan works part-time as the company’s office manager. Sid and Joan are active members of the Steven S. Wise Temple in Los Angeles. Sid sits on the Temple’s Board of Directors, as well as several corporate boards. Joan serves on the Temple’s Social Action Committee and is involved with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Daughter Wendy is an attorney with Bet Tzedek Legal Services and married to Eric Levine, executive vice president of operations for Cooperative Purchasers. Sadly, daughter Melissa passed away in 2005 at age 28 from a degenerative neuromuscular disease. She had lived in Boston, but had moved back to Los Angeles with her husband David Nealy.

Working with The Foundation:
Sid and his brother Richard and their parents, Leo and Gert Marantz created a Family Support Organization in 1987. In December 2005, Wendy and Eric Levine, Sid and Joan Marantz and Dave Nealy opened a Donor Advised Fund to pay tribute to Melissa with the intention of growing it into a Family Support Organization by contributing additional personal funds.

We created our first Support Organization through The Foundation because we felt it would be the most convenient and economic way to manage our philanthropy. Setting up our own foundation would have been too cumbersome and difficult to manage.

-Sid & Joan Marantz

Focus of philanthropy:

“We want to support organizations and causes that were important to Melissa, and medical organizations that are focused in patient services and research involving neuromuscular diseases such as the ALS Center at Cedars Sinai Medical Center and the programs at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.”

How we plan to instill philanthropic values in the next generation:

“When our children were growing up, we gave each a small budget every year to make gifts to charities of their choice. They developed a sense of philanthropy that carried into their adult lives. Their grandparents also set a great example for them. Our Family Support Organizations will help us continue that spirit of giving throughout the generations to come, as reflected by Eric and Wendy’s as well as David’s participation with their own funds to help build Melissa’s Support Organization.”