Foundation History

The Ernest and Rose Samuels Foundation was started in 1977 by Ernest Samuels, a great uncle of Deborah Feldheim, the current President of the Foundation. As a young man, Ernest arrived alone on Ellis Island from Eastern Europe with pennies in his pocket.  He worked his way up from sweeping the floors of a furniture factory, to building the furniture, to managing his fellow workman, to owning the factory, and eventually the entire company.

When he retired to Florida, he decided to set up a small family foundation named after himself and his beloved wife, Rose. For the next 20 years, he was actively involved in many philanthropic endeavors in his local community and Israel. 

Since then, the Foundation has continued its philanthropic work and more recently has focused on combating homelessness, promoting mental health, and supporting education initiatives that encourage leadership, artistic self-expression and creative problem-solving both on the international and local (DC area) level.