The Crown Family
Year
Affiliation
Areas of Focus
Arts | Education | Environment | Health
The Crown family is honored for their exceptional philanthropic achievements over the course of seventy-five years. The family embodies the time-honored values of hard work and helping the less fortunate, part of an admirable and enduring inheritance. Like Andrew Carnegie, the family forebears, Arie and Ida Crown, came to this country in the 19th century in search of a better life.
A believer in character, friendship, honor, and integrity, Henry Crown insisted that in America anything was possible—if you were willing to work for it. Demonstrating remarkable talent and ingenuity, along with a tremendous work ethic, Henry and his brothers launched the Material Service Corporation in 1919, which survived the Great Depression to become one of the most successful enterprises in America.
Beginning in 1947, the family has annually dedicated significant resources to philanthropy. In gratitude for opportunities only possible in the United States, they have given back abundantly to country and community. They have increased their philanthropy in pace with the family’s continued success, supporting numerous national and international organizations.
The Crown family’s generosity has extended to the arts, civic affairs, education, environmental projects, health, human services, and Jewish causes. From numerous basic research programs at Israeli institutions to the public school system in Chicago, their concern for others extends to more than 600 institutions annually. While their outreach is broad, their efforts consistently focus on building opportunities for others and addressing the needs of individuals at risk.
Through the decades, the family’s legacy of commitment to the care of others has been passed on to their children and grandchildren. Today even the great-grandchildren of Arie and Ida Crown are involved in helping to ensure continuation of the work all four generations have embraced as a core value of the family. We greatly esteem the social contract of engagement, trust, and participation by which they address the need for social change. On behalf of the many individuals and organizations that benefit from
their unflagging generosity, we honor the kindness and the steadfast commitment of the Crown family.
