Philip Krupp, 94; longtime Jewish, Zionist supporter
When Philip Krupp encountered anti-Semitism as a youth he didn't take it quietly. He spoke up, and sometimes he let his fists do the talking. After making a fortune as a real estate developer, he contributed generously to many Zionist and Jewish causes. He was also a lifelong member of the NAACP -- discrimination in all its forms was something he understood.
"He had an incredible moral compass and it was set early in his life," George Krupp said yesterday of his father, who died Wednesday in his Brookline home at age 94. "He saw anti-Semitism firsthand and he saw his middle-class family go into poverty during the Great Depression. He was a tough guy who always fought back."
Mr. Krupp established the Krupp Library of History at the Anti-Defamation League headquarters in New York City, and was a founding governor of the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, where a building is named in his honor. He was a national commissioner of the Anti-Defamation League and the former president of the Solomon Schechter Day School in Newton.
"He was very dedicated to Israel and Jewish causes," his wife, Bernice Carlin, said yesterday.
Mr. Krupp was born into a family of Lithuanian Orthodox Jews in East Boston. Every Saturday he walked to the synagogue with his family. After his father was laid off from his job as a quartermaster at the Chelsea Naval Yard during the Depression, young Mr. Krupp sold milk from the back of a horse-drawn wagon.
Though times were tough, his father always found money to give to the local synagogue. After he made one donation of $4 -- a lot of money at the time -- young Mr. Krupp asked his father how they were going to replace the money. His father sold one of the family's dressers to come up with the cash.
The family moved to Roxbury, where Mr. Krupp attended high school. One teacher repeatedly called him "Kruppinski," which he took as a slur. "He whacked the teacher and laid him right out on the floor," said his son. "The incident required him to repeat the 12th grade."
Mr. Krupp and his family eventually settled in Brookline. One day in 1943, Bernice Carlin came over to play bridge with his sister-in-law and he was smitten. "He offered to walk me home; then he wouldn't leave," Mrs. Krupp said yesterday. The couple married later that year.
As reports filtered back from Europe about the Nazi Holocaust, Mr. Krupp began raising funds for a Jewish homeland. He also took other steps to help establish the state.
One night in 1947, he was in a hotel in Rutland, Vt., when a colleague informed him that a truck Mr. Krupp hired had overturned en route to Montreal.
According to the bill of lading, the truck carried blankets destined for the people of Palestine. Wrapped in the blankets were rifles for the Jewish irregulars fighting the British who controlled Palestine.
When Mr. Krupp arrived at the scene of the accident, customs officials were preparing to search the truck.
The supervising agent spoke with an Irish brogue. Mr. Krupp took a chance that his sympathies might not lie with the British. "Sir, you know what you're going to find in there," Mr. Krupp said, according to a story published in the Globe in 1998. "It's going to the port of Haifa and it's going to help people liberated from concentration camps defend themselves against the British."
His hunch was correct.
"Get on board. Come on, we're late," the supervisor barked to his agents.
Mr. Krupp was visited by FBI agents in 1948. "Two agents came to his fur store to interview him," said his son. "One agent made an anti-Semitic remark and he knocked him right down a flight of stairs."
George said the FBI agent knew he had misbehaved and there were no repercussions.
Mr. Krupp later went into real estate investment and development. "It was a risky move," said George. But it worked out well.
He worked with his brothers out of an office in Boston, where Mr. Krupp worked at a desk with a framed photograph of Israel's founding father, David Ben-Gurion, and a framed copy of Israel's Proclamation of Independence. Krupp Brothers grew into a real estate investment and management company with holdings throughout the country.
Mr. Krupp always dressed meticulously. He loved Shakespeare and would quote his works from memory. And he loved to tell stories. "Everybody loved to listen to him," said his wife. "He was very strong-willed and very articulate. He said what he meant and meant what he said."
He carried on the generosity of his father, making substantial donations to Catholic charities, the NAACP, and other organizations not necessarily associated with Jewish concerns.
"He always put his money where his mouth was, and was incredibly encouraging when it came to things that would help the less fortunate," said his son.
Besides his wife and son, he leaves another son, Douglas; a daughter, Joanne; a brother, William; and five grandsons.
A funeral will be held at noon tomorrow in Stanetsky Memorial Chapels in Brookline.
