“To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream, not only plan, but also believe.”
-Philip Weiner
Phil and Margery Weiner, known for their generous acts of charity and impeccable sense of style, established their fund in 1994, adding to their already-immense impact on Pittsburgh and its Jewish community.
Philip Weiner was born in 1923 to Russian immigrants in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. Margery lived just a few houses away—they met when they were five years old and would marry forty years later. As a young man, Philip left the University of Pittsburgh to fight in General Patton’s Army and was one of the first soldiers to liberate Nazi concentration camps. Upon his return to Pittsburgh, he helped his father run a men’s clothing store before becoming co-owner of Goldstock Jewelers on Liberty Avenue.
Margery—an activist, society writer for The Jewish Chronicle, and passionate Steelers fan—devoted herself to Jewish causes in her community. As president of the Pittsburgh Chapter of Hadassah from 1972 to 1975, she worked advance medical research and empower young women in both Israel and America. As president of the Women’s International Club at the University of Pittsburgh, she helped raise funds for Pitt’s nationality rooms and endowed a scholarship for female student. Margery was also a board member of both the American Jewish Committee and the Zionist Organization of America, a founding member of Temple Emmanuel in Pittsburgh’s South Hills, a recipient of the Israel Leadership Award, and a Hadassah honoree for her 35 years of service. “She believed that if you had drive and ambition and a good social conscience, you were going to achieve things, not just for yourself, but for other people,” according to her daughter, Jane Tumpson. “She was politically minded and civic minded…she marched on Washington and believed in being an activist.”
Margery and Philip married in 1969, merging two families—Philip had two children from his first marriage, and Margery had five from her own. Together, they traveled the world, visiting Israel, South America, Europe, and Russia. On their trips the Weiners often met with community activists and political leaders, as well as those in need—in Russia, for example, they met with Refuseniks, Soviet Jews forbidden to emigrate to Israel.
Philip and Margery retired to Florida in 1993, though they made frequent trips home and Philip’s business advice was still heavily sought-after. At the Pittsburgh Foundation, they established the Phil and Margery Weiner Philanthropic Fund, providing an annual scholarship for Pitt students to study abroad in Israel and develop their leadership skills. The fund also supports health clinics for migrant children and education initiatives for underserved populations.
Margery Weiner passed away in 1998. Philip, a longtime supporter of Temple Emmanuel (which Margery had helped found), established a fund in her honor that finances Temple Emmanuel’s four youth groups.
Philip continued his philanthropy as a fervent supporter of Israel, Hadassah, the National Jewish Fund, the Jewish Federation of America, and the Zionist Organization of America. In 2005, he received Temple Emmanuel’s L’Dor Vador Award for his service to the Jewish community. Two years later he was honored in a special ceremony in Delray Beach, Florida as well.
“It’s not what you have in your life, but whom you have in your life,” Philip once told a grandchild. He spent his spent his final years as a living example of that statement—spending time with friends and family near the ocean, going out to see dancing, theater, and concerts, and giving generously to the causes he cared about until his passing in 2010. “[He’ll be] remembered for his generosity, wisdom, sense of humor, and his passionate belief that each of us has an inherent responsibility to make the world in which we live a better place,” wrote his nephew, Dr. Gene Orringer of North Carolina. “He illustrated this message every day to all he came in contact with through his dreams, his deeds, and his commitment.”