Homeless Holocaust Survivor Leaves $100K Gift

By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 9, 2009 6:48 PM CDT
Homeless Holocaust Survivor Leaves $100K Gift
The setting sun casts its glow over a scale model of Jerusalem's Hebrew University amphitheatre at the Mini Israel model park July 23, 2003 in Latrun, Israel.   (Getty Images)

Hebrew University has received a surprise donation of more than $100,000 from an unexpected benefactor—a woman who survived the Nazi Holocaust and appeared to be destitute, a university official said today. Upon her death 2 years ago, a homeless Holocaust survivor living on the streets of New York City willed the gift to the university. The Jewish woman lived out of a shopping cart in Manhattan and had no known relatives.

"She lived as a very poor woman. And when she died at the age of 92, it was discovered she had accumulated close to $300,000," says Yefet Ozery, Hebrew University's director of development and public relations. "She probably saved it to do good for the world and for the Jewish people." The money will be used to fund scholarships for medical research students, according to the woman's wishes. (More Israel stories.)

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