Jane z”l and Marvin z”l Schapiro left a profound legacy through their extensive community service and philanthropy. Their contributions to both Baltimore and Israel have had lasting a impact, particularly in the areas of education, cultural development, and support for Jewish communal services.

A fourth generation Baltimorean born in 1922; Jane Krieger Schapiro’s independent spirit found expression in her leadership of numerous community organizations. She studied journalism at New York University, but returned to Baltimore, graduating from Goucher College in 1952. Jane eloped with Leroy Cohen in 1942 while still in college. Jane’s father, Abraham Krieger, was a founding member of The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore and strongly influenced her active participation in Jewish philanthropy. A life-long student of Judaism and a capable leader, Jane was the first woman to serve on the boards of The Associated and of Chizuk Amuno Congregation. She sat on the Board of Goucher College and was one of the founders of what became the children’s zoo at the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.

Several years after her husband’s sudden death in 1966, Jane married Marvin Schapiro, a Baltimore realtor. Marvin was born in Baltimore and raised in Forest Park; he was a 1937 graduate of Forest Park High School. In the late 1930s, he joined a family-owned, used textile business, S. Schapiro & Sons, and became its vice president for international trade. He traveled throughout Western Europe and Asia until he sold his interest in the business and founded Continental Realty, whose holdings included the Hippodrome Theatre, Town Theater, Reisterstown Road Plaza, Chartley Shopping Center, Park Plaza in Severna Park and more than 5,000 apartments.

Jane and Marvin shared a mutual interest in the cultural and educational institutions in Israel, and to that end, established a school for Arab and Jewish children in Kiryat Gat in southern Israel about 30 miles south of Tel Aviv. Together, Marvin and Jane were actively involved in Baltimore’s participation through The Associated in Project Renewal, whose mission was to help poor neighborhoods in Israel.

Marvin helped establish the Maryland/Israel Development Center (MIDC), which was a partnership between the state Department of Business and Economic Development, Israel’s Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Jewish Agency for Israel and The Associated. He was also interested in creating jobs for the mass migration of Soviet Jews, who began settling in Kiryat Gat in the 1980s. Marvin helped get Intel to develop in Kiryat Gat which was part of the reason it became one of Baltimore’s sister cities. In honor of his wife, Marvin dedicated the library in her name at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba.

Marvin died in 2002 and Jane in 2019; they are survived by 3 children: J. Mark Schapiro, Howard K. Cohen and JoAnn Fruchtman; along with nine grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren who continue the family’s legacy of philanthropy and community service.