A highly committed communal and business leader and philanthropist, Harvey Morton “Bud” Meyerhoff died of heart failure last Sunday, Aug. 6, at his Pikesville residence. The longtime Baltimore resident was 96.
“Legacies are built on how wisely someone spent their time. A true inheritance is the result of that time spent and what is made of it,” Hazzan Emanuel C. Perlman wrote of Meyerhoff on the memorial page of the website of Sol Levinson & Bros. “Bud was the patriarch of his family, the U.S. Holocaust Museum, Johns Hopkins and untold philanthropies. His children and grandchildren are the inheritors who live up to his charitableness. Baruch Dayan HaEmet.”
Wrote Rabbi Ronald Z. Schwartz, formerly of Baltimore’s Beth Jacob Congregation: “Buddy was everyone’s bud, a disciple of [the late community leader and educator] Lou Kaplan, his father’s heir. Without him the U.S. Holocaust Museum would never have come to fruition. His name and legacy are forever linked to The Johns Hopkins University. His deeds speak his praise.”
A Baltimore native and 1945 graduate of Forest Park High School, Meyerhoff served in the U.S. Navy toward the end of World War II. He earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. (In 2000, he received an honorary degree from Johns Hopkins University, the highest award given by that institution.)
Meyerhoff was the retired chairman of Magna Holdings Inc. and served as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Monumental Properties Inc., a residential and commercial development and construction firm founded by his father, Joseph Meyerhoff, for whom the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s concert hall is named after.
Although he retired in 1985, Bud Meyerhoff was highly active in philanthropy and communal leadership locally, nationally and in Israel. In 1987, he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to succeed writer and activist Elie Wiesel as chair of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. Meyerhoff was instrumental in the 1993 dedication of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
Meyerhoff raised the $150 million in private funds that built the museum on federal land on the southwest edge of the Mall in Washington.
“By its very existence at the heart of our great democracy, this museum will teach generations to come not only about the awful events of the past, but about the awful consequences of bigotry, oppression, hatred and intolerance,” he said at the dedication ceremony, with President Bill Clinton and Wiesel in attendance. “And about the responsibilities that each of us has as citizens of a democratic society.”
In a statement, the Holocaust Memorial wrote: “In the face of significant skepticism and numerous challenges, his rare combination of determination, dedication, and generosity were all exceptional. He was a man of principle, strong values, and humility. … The Museum is part of his extraordinary legacy. We shall remain forever grateful to him.”
Meyerhoff was also a longtime Johns Hopkins University trustee and chair of the Johns Hopkins Health system board from 1986 to 1989.
“We were deeply saddened to hear the news of Bud Meyerhoff’s passing,” JHU President Ronald J. Daniels said in a statement. “A fiercely proud Baltimore native, Bud was a true champion of our city and the institutions that supported Baltimore’s economic, intellectual, and cultural life. Johns Hopkins was fortunate to benefit from his visionary leadership. We are grateful for Bud and his family’s decades of wise counsel and philanthropic support that touched our institution and all those we serve. Our deepest condolences go to Bud’s family and to his many friends throughout our hometown and beyond.”
In addition, Meyerhoff helped establish the Peabody Institute’s Leon Fleisher Studio Scholarship Fund; was a major donor behind the Bunting Meyerhoff Interfaith and Community Service Center at JHU; and endowed the Harvey M. Meyerhoff Professorship in Bioethics and Medicine at Hopkins.
Meyerhoff served in leadership positions in numerous organizations, including The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore, the BSO, the United Way of Central Maryland, the Baltimore Museum of Art, Greater Baltimore Committee, Maryland National Bank, the National Society of Crippled Children and Adults, The Park School, PEC Israel Economic Corporation, St. John’s College, Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, National Conference of Christians and Jews, National Association of Home Builders, Home Builders Association of Maryland, and the United Jewish Appeal.
The Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore posted on social media: “The JCC celebrates the incredible legacy of Harvey M. ‘Bud’ Meyerhoff, the namesake of the fitness wing at the Rosenbloom Owings Mills JCC. Bud will be remembered as a generous philanthropist, community developer, and major benefactor of cultural institutions in Baltimore and Israel. May his memory always be for a blessing.”
Meyerhoff is survived by his wife, Phyllis Meyerhoff (nee Cahn); children, Terry (James) Rubenstein, Lee Hendler, Zoh (Bob) Hieronimus, and Joseph Meyerhoff II (Dawna Cobb); stepchildren, Susan Davis, Diane (Barton) Wailes, and Nancy Moye; 10 grandchildren and four step-grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; and nieces and nephews.
Meyerhoff was predeceased by his first wife, Lyn P. Meyerhoff; sisters, Peggy Pearlstone and Eleanor Katz; and parents, Rebecca and Joseph Meyerhoff.
Contributions in Bud Meyerhoff’s memory may be sent to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, Washington, D.C. 20024; Johns Hopkins Berman Institute Of Bioethics, 3400 N. Charles S., Baltimore, Md. 21218; or The Park School, 2425 Old Court Rd., Baltimore, Md. 21208.
A memorial service celebrating his life will be announced at a later time.
A Baltimore native, Sweren was a collector of artists' books whose own works were displayed in national galleries.
The BCO, founded in 1984, will perform the works of Frank Zappa, Beethoven, Mason Bates and Karena Ingram.
For more than 130 years, Sol Levinson & Bros. has been woven into the fabric of Baltimore’s Jewish community.
Led by local Israel-American cellist Amit Peled, the Mount Vernon Virtuosi aims to inspire people beyond musical enjoyment.