Abraham S. Kay (1899–1963) was an American real estate businessman and

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

activist, known for being a founder and member of the Kay Construction Company in the District of Columbia and Maryland area as well as being a philanthropic contributor to the Jewish community.

Biography

Born to

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family, Kay moved to the United States from

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

at the age of 10. At the age of 12 he dropped out of Washington Elementary School on July 4, 1909 and began working at a grocery store due to a tough financial situation at home. A few years later, he managed to save up enough money to purchase his own grocery store. After returning home from being a sergeant in World War I, Kay married his wife, Minnie, and founded the District Grocery Society renamed

District Grocery Stores District Grocery Stores (DGS) was a cooperative of small single-room grocery stores in Washington, DC, Maryland and Northern Virginia. It operated from 1921 to 1972.Supermarket Era Closes Cooperative" by William H. Jones, ''The Washington Post and ...

(DGS) in 1928. Thanks to the money made from the grocery organization, in the 1930s Kay bought land in the Silver Spring area in Maryland, thus leading the way to forming the Kay Construction Company in 1936. For the first time, he made it possible for Jews to join the

Indian Spring Indian Spring (also known as Indian Spring Terrace) is a mostly residential neighborhood of Silver Spring, Maryland. Located within the Silver Spring CDP, it is sometimes considered a southeastern neighborhood of Four Corners. It is one of the old ...

Golf and Country Club in 1939, though African-Americans and other non-white minorities were still excluded from membership until the mid-1960s. Prior to the passage of the

1968 Fair Housing Act The Civil Rights Act of 1968 () is a landmark law in the United States signed into law by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during the King assassination riots. Titles II through VII comprise the Indian Civil Rights Act, which applie ...

and before his death in 1963, Kay used racially restrictive covenants to exclude

African Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

and other

racial minorities The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

from neighborhoods he helped develop. Kay has earned much recognition for being involved in other groups such as being chairman for the team that purchased . This was the ship that tried to bring Jewish immigrants to

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

in 1947. He also supported a rehabilitation center at

Nahariya Nahariya ( he, נַהֲרִיָּה, ar, نهاريا) is the northernmost coastal city in Israel. In it had a population of . Etymology Nahariya takes its name from the stream of Ga'aton (river is ''nahar'' in Hebrew), which bisects it. Hist ...

for disabled Israeli military veterans. It is funded by the Abe S. Kay Foundation, Inc. which he was president of. Just a month before he died, Kay donated 350,000 dollars to the

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...

to build the Kay Spiritual Life Center, forming the first interfaith chapel on its campus. In 1963, Kay died of a heart attack at Washington Hospital Center while living in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

. He and his wife Minnie had two children, Jack Kay and Sylvia Kay Greenberg.

Organizations and achievements

* General chairman of the United Jewish Appeal of Greater Washington * Honorary chairman of the Washington Committee for Israel bonds * Helped with the revamping of the Israel Embassy in Washington * Honored in 1956 by the Washington Jewish community as "Man of the Year." * High tribute was paid by Israel Premier Ben-Gurion and Ambassador Abba Eban * Served as president of the Abe S. Kay Foundation, Inc.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kay, Abraham S. 1899 births 1963 deaths Activists from Maryland Activists from Washington, D.C. American grocers American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent American businesspeople in real estate American Zionists Businesspeople from Maryland Businesspeople from Washington, D.C. History of racism in Maryland Jews and Judaism in Montgomery County, Maryland Opposition to antisemitism in the United States 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American Jews