Evelyn Danzig Haas

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Evelyn D. Haas (1917 – February 3, 2010) was a San Francisco Bay Area civic leader and philanthropist. She was the co-founder of the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund which has contributed more than $364 million to Bay Area cultural, civic, and social service organizations.

Biography[]

Hass was born Evelyn Danzig in Elberon, New Jersey^[1] in 1917. She grew up in New York City and graduated from Wheaton College in Massachusetts, where she developed her love of art.^[2] Her father was Jerome J. Danzig, founder of the bond-trading firm J.J. Danzig and former governor of the New York Stock Exchange.^[1][3] Her brother, Jerome Alan Danzig, was an adviser to Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York and was married to tennis star Sarah Palfrey.^[4] She met her future husband, Walter A. Haas Jr., while he was attending Harvard Business School. They married and moved to San Francisco in 1940, where they raised their three children: Robert D. Haas, Betsy Haas Eisenhardt, and Walter J. Haas.

Philanthropy[]

Haas served on the board of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.^[5] She and her husband helped raise the $95 million needed to build the museum’s facility^[6] in San Francisco’s South of Market (SoMa) area; it opened in 1995.

She was involved in the San Francisco Symphony for more than 40 years and ultimately became a Life Governor of the institution. The Haas Jr. Fund provided the symphony with a $10 million lead challenge grant for the creation of Keeping Score, an initiative anchored by a PBS television series aimed at “bringing the power and joy of classical music” to American homes and schools.^[7]

She and her family spearheaded the restoration of Crissy Field, a former military base, into a 100-acre urban national park.^[8] Haas also was an avid fly fisher—a hobby she picked up from her husband. She co-authored a book with Gwen Cooper, Wade a Little Deeper, Dear: A Woman's Guide to Fly Fishing in 1979, which became a classic among fly fishers.

Haas was an advocate for the San Francisco Chronicle’s annual Season of Sharing Fund, which her husband first launched in partnership with the newspaper in 1986. After his death in 1995, Haas became even more active in the campaign, writing personal letters each year to urge hundreds of friends and colleagues to contribute.^[9]

Personal life[]

She had three children with her husband Walter A. Haas Jr.: Robert Douglas Haas, former chairman and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co.; Elizabeth Jane "Betsy" Haas Eisenhardt (married to Roy Eisenhardt); and Walter Jerome Haas, co-chairman of the Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund and former chairman and CEO of the Oakland Athletics.^[10] Funeral services were held at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco.^[10]

References[]

External links[]

• Archive.org "Fine arts and family : oral history transcript : the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, philanthropy, writing, and Haas family memories / 1997"
• Daily Californian obituary
• New York Times obituary