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BY BETH SURDUT "Let me tell you a story," says Michael Gould, Chairman and CEO of Bloomingdale's. "My father was the president of the Boston chapter of the American Friends of Hebrew University. My parents went to Israel in 1967, after Mt. Scopus was reclaimed, for an international meeting of Friends of Hebrew University. Part of the agenda was formulating a plan to raise $100 million. After a lengthy discussion, Baron Rothschild said, 'Why don't we just call a hundred of our friends and ask each of them for a million dollars?'" Gould emulated Rothschild's strategy when he chose to make a gift to Hebrew College in his parents' honor—he called his friend Lenny Florence.
Gould's family connection to Hebrew College traces back nearly 50 years. He describes his father, a pre-med and Hillel faculty advisor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as a soft-spoken humanist who "had a true brilliance with even greater modesty and humility." Bernard Gould grew up in Dorchester and, after receiving his PhD at the University of London, became a biochemistry professor at MIT. He began his relationship with Hebrew College as a member of the Board of Trustees in 1954 and ultimately served as Chair from 1971 to 1976. "My father had to work after school. He would have loved to go to Hebrew College, but it wasn't possible. The thing that gave my father the greatest satisfaction outside of MIT was his five decades of involvement with Hebrew College," says Gould. Gould and his two brothers, David and Jonathan, are the grandchildren of Louis Ginzberg, a world-renowned Talmudic scholar and author of the seminal work Legends of the Jews. They were raised in a very welcoming and academic atmosphere in Brookline. "My parents were enormous hosts. They had the ability to bring people of all different walks of life together. There was rarely a Friday night when there weren't friends, children of friends, and students in our home," says Gould. "At my mother's funeral, the rabbi said that everybody who came thought that Sophie was their best friend. That's how she was. "We grew up before the advent of the answering machine. My father had a rule that the phone had to be answered at dinnertime. He said that it could be a student—and if a student had gathered the nerve to call the advisor, the advisor had to be there anytime. He gave sage, sound counsel with zero ego. He could talk to his grandchildren about any subject as easily as he could talk to his colleagues." Gould now lives in New York and is an active supporter of the arts and humanities. A founder of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, he is a member of Hebrew College's National Board and served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Jewish Committee. He earned his undergraduate and master's degrees in business at Columbia University. An internship at Abraham and Straus department stores quickly led to his becoming their youngest merchandise Vice President. Prior to his current position at Bloomingdale's, where he has been since 1991, Gould was President and CEO of Giorgio Beverly Hills and, prior to that, Chairman and CEO of Robinson's department stores in Los Angeles.
Florence grew up with eight siblings, children of Russian immigrants. "I always knew what I was going to be wearing the next year because my brother was wearing it already," he says, while touring the old neighborhood in his Rolls Royce. After winning a Dewey Stone scholarship to Boston University (he was designated Student of the Year in 1953), Florence began a long and fruitful friendship and business relationship with Stone, who was a legendary supporter of Israel and one of two people, along with Nathan Friedman, who purchased the Hawes Street building—Hebrew College's previous home. Described by the Wall Street Journal in 1982 as the "king of sterling," Florence began his phenomenal rise with only an undergraduate degree (he now has eight honorary doctorates) and a job at a floundering silver company owned by Stone, which Florence built successfully through mergers. In 1967, Stone urged Florence to donate a substantial part of his income for a building at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. In 1969, profits allowed him to form his own company, Leonard Silver. Nine years later, he merged Leonard Silver with Towle, one of the oldest companies in the United States. In 1998, Florence remodeled the Stone administration building, adding a plaque acknowledging Stone as his mentor. This was the same year Florence acquired Farberware and eventually made approximately $50 million on a $9 million investment. "Dewey allowed me to become a millionaire by the time I was thirty. He says if you make it, you have to share it. So when Mike came to me about Hebrew College, I said yes, of course, I would do anything for Dewey, whose family has been active there for generations," Florence says. As a child Florence received free dental care at Tufts University. As an adult he donated two clinics, an auditorium and tuition money. "Let me tell you a story," he says, offering a cup a coffee in his glittering East Boston showroom. "It's seven a.m. and I'm sitting in a towel in the shvitz with my friend Irwin Chafetz. A fellow comes out of the steam and thrusts a newspaper article in my face, pointing to my photo. 'Are you Lenny Florence?' he asks. I was startled. I have no idea who he is or what he wants from me. I say yes and he says, 'I came to America from Russia in 1996—I was a dentist there. I needed to go back to school to get certified in the U.S., and you paid for it. Now I want to pay you back.' I said, 'You don't owe me anything. Give it to a student in my honor—but just promise me you'll never scare me like that again!' You know, if you share your rewards, it comes back." Florence is as comfortable supporting projects in his old hometown as he is participating in celebrity-studded events. When the Orange Street Shul, Shaare Zion in Chelsea, closed in 1999, he arranged for the Yahrzeit names to be transferred to his synagogue, Congregation Mishkan Tefila in Chestnut Hill. "My late parents, of blessed memory, taught me to share. We had a little pushke in the house for the rabbi to come get. They also taught me to give to all faiths. I want people to respect each other and live together in harmony," says Florence. In 2000, Pope John Paul II named Florence a Commander of the Knights of St. Gregory, the highest honor given by the Catholic Church, in recognition of an individual's notable accomplishments on behalf of society, regardless of religious beliefs. Much of Florence's philanthropy does not bear his name, but he is proud of a recent collaboration with Irwin Chafetz, a longtime Hebrew College supporter, to fund the stellar Alzheimer's facility, the Florence-Chafetz Home for Specialized Care in Chelsea. Florence and Chafetz also gave Boston University funding for a new Hillel building. "I put my name on the buildings to show that when you come from the wrong side of the tracks, you can make it, but you have to give it back," says Florence. Gould's and Florence's philanthropic affiliations—temples, churches, charities, schools, hospitals and museums—are too numerous to list. "You can be a tough businessman, but you have to help others. You can't do it all. I would like to see more people get involved. You don't have to give money; you can volunteer," says Florence. Gould adds, "The reason to do this is the fifth commandment: honor thy father and mother. It's about Sophie and Bernie, in honor of what they gave to the Boston Jewish community—a gift from our family to enrich the Hebrew College that not only enriched our dad, but also gave him great joy. We want to enable as many students as possible to get the education that Hebrew College offers." Beth Surdut, a writer and editor for |
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Gould and Leonard Florence, Chairman and retired CEO of Syratech Corporation, are extraordinary businessmen and active philanthropists a decade apart in age. Together they have funded the Gould-Florence Campus Center, named for their parents: Bernard and Sophie Gould, Myer and Fannie Florence. The building is also dedicated to Louis and Sadye Cohen, parents of Florence's wife, Charlotte. Gould says, "Although I'm involved with several organizations, this is the only time I've done a joint project. I think Lenny epitomizes the greatest gift in life and that is the gift of friendship."
Leonard Florence speaks fondly of his friend. "I've known Mike for about thirty-five years, ever since he was at Abraham and Straus. He is brilliant and compassionate. He cares about everybody," he says. A Boston-based entrepreneur and mentor who is recognized as a master of mergers and acquisitions in the housewares industry, Florence is also Consul General to Costa Rica. The story of Florence's journey from seven-year-old shoeshine boy in Chelsea to business magnate and interdenominational philanthropist will fill an upcoming biography.