Wohl, Carlyn H.

Person

Wohl, Carlyn H.

1894-1987

Carlyn Hartman was born in 1894 and grew up in Chillicothe, Missouri. She moved to St. Louis in the 1920s, where she met and married David P. Wohl, founder of the Wohl Shoe Company. In 1940 the Wohls established the Wohl Foundation for Charitable and Educational Purposes. Until its dissolution in 1970, the Foundation contributed more than $9 million to charitable institutions in St. Louis. Carlyn Wohl managed the foundation after her husband's death in 1960.

Through both personal gifts and their Foundation, the Wohls contributed to several local institutions, including Washington and St. Louis Universities; Lutheran and Homer G. Phillips Hospitals; St. Louis Children's and the Jewish Hospital of St. Louis; the Visiting Nurse Association; the Central Institute for the Deaf; Jewish Community Centers Association; Dismas House; the St. Louis Symphony and Art Museum; and the Greater St. Louis Fund for Arts and Education.

The Wohls contributed $300,000 towards the construction of the Carlyn H. Wohl Research Center as a unit of the Washington University School of Dentistry. Over one million dollars was given for the construction of the David P. Wohl, Jr. Memorial Hospital, built to honor their son who lost his life in the Second World War. The Wohls donated $2 million toward the construction of the David P. Wohl, Jr. Memorial, which housed the Washington University Clinics. In 1965 Carlyn Wohl honored her two daughters by donating $500,000 to the Jewish Hospital to establish the Frances Wohl Marcus and Elizabeth Wohl Rothschild Research Fund.

Carlyn Wohl served on the boards of directors of many organizations, including the Jewish Hospital of St. Louis and the Central Institute for the Deaf. In 1971 the St. Louis Globe-Democrat named Carlyn Wohl one of its Women of Achievement for her creative philanthropy.

Source: http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/mowihsp/bios/benefactors.htm

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