Liilian Booth; philanthropist (Lillian Booth Actor's Fund Home)
Hyfler/Rosner
Pascack Valley Hospital
Thursday, November 22, 2007
By SERDAR TUMGOREN
STAFF WRITER
Lillian Booth was as comfortable signing million-dollar
checks to hospitals as she was dancing the rumba in
Manhattan ballrooms.
The New York socialite, who spent a lifetime spreading her
wealth among charities in New Jersey and beyond, died at 92
on Thursday morning in her Alpine home.
Her death, due to complications from a stroke three weeks
ago, coincidentally came a day after the closing of Pascack
Valley Hospital, one of
the greatest beneficiaries of her philanthropy.
During the 1990s, Booth donated $3.5 million to build a
dialysis center and an oncology and radiation facility at
the hospital.
The hospital celebrated a $1.5 million gift in 1998 with a
black-tie gala attended by stars such as Joyce Randolph,
from the "The Honeymooners," and Academy Award-
winner Celeste Holm.
The hospital's financial troubles grieved Booth but never
led her to second-guess her contributions, said Misha
Dabich, her companion of 51 years.
"She was disappointed in its closing because 45 years ago we
happened to go to that hospital to visit her brother and she
liked it," he said. "And from that time on she helped them
out, with the big gifts coming later."
Booth also understood the art of small¬er gifts.
"She would give me a basket full of chocolates every few
weeks and I'd run them into the dialysis
center," Dabich said. "Same thing with the oncology center.
Everyone would say, 'God bless Lillian Booth.' She really
gave them a state-of-the-art facility."
A social butterfly who had successfully mingled in New York's
high society, Booth began her philanthropic efforts after
the 1956 death of her second husband, Col. Ferris Booth. His
father had made a fortune investing in Hotpoint and
International Business Machines Corp. and passed on the
wealth to his son, who died a decade after marrying Lillian
Booth. She went on to expand the family fortune with
investments in real estate and IBM, Dabich said, while also
turning her attention to philanthropy.
Her first major gift in the 1960s - $2 million to Columbia
University - helped build Ferris Booth Hall, a student
activity center.
Booth often chose beneficiaries based on relationships of
trust, said her grand-niece Maria Peck.
Booth's friendship with the leader of The Actors' Fund of
America, for instance, led to a $2 million gift three years
ago to support the Lillian Booth Actors' Fund Home, an
Englewood assisted-living and nursing facility for
entertainers.
Her acquaintance with an employee of Christ Hospital in
Jersey City led Booth to donate several patient transport
vans that were ultimately used on Sept. 11 to shuttle
victims from the World Trade Center. Booth gave the hospital
another van in recent weeks at a cost of $50,000.
Peck said Booth was equal parts philanthropist and
socialite.
"She was just vibrant. Until she had the stroke three weeks
ago, she was out three or four nights a week, going to
dinner in New York, going to shows. Everything," she said.
"She was the rumba queen of New York . and would often dance
with Misha at charity events."
She said Booth never had any of her own children but
generously supported her 10 nieces and nephews and their
children.
Booth, born to Greek parents, had left her native Baltimore
in her early 20s after Milton Berle invited her to perform
in a Broadway show. She dabbled in theater but never had any
major roles, Dabich said.
"She just had a celebrity personality and became acquainted
with a lot of stars," he said, adding that Booth helped
launch his career as a comedian-singer.
"An angel on earth - that's what she was," Dabich said. "She
did more for others than for herself. Every man should have
a gal like her. She took care of the community. She took
care of her family."
Friends may call Sunday, Nov. 25, at the Barrett Funeral
Home, 148 Dean Drive in Tenafly, between 2 to 4 p.m. and
again from 7 to 9 p.m. The funeral services will be held 10
a.m., Monday, Nov. 26, at St. John the Theologian Orthodox
Cathedral, in Tenafly.
Entombment will take place at George Washington Memorial
Park in Paramus.
In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to
the Lillian Booth Actors' Fund Home, 175 W.est Hudson Ave.,
Englewood NJ 07631.
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