Palo Alto JCC honors benefactors at fund-raiser

At their recent 70th -- yes, 70th -- wedding anniversary celebration, Janet and Albert L. Schultz hosted 150 guests in the social hall of their San Francisco Towers home. At one point in the evening, recalls Albert, "a neighbor came up to us and said, 'I've been married three times, and it didn't add up to 70 years!'"

It would be hard for anyone to add up the accomplishments of Janet and Albert Schultz. Both 93, they look back at a life filled with professional success, travel, family, friends and philanthropy. Today they remain as engaged as ever.

Their generosity is legend, with the couple having donated millions to the Jewish community here and abroad. Yet Albert shrugs it off with genuine modesty. "Basically," he says, "we've led a quiet life."

Tell that to the thousands who every day enjoy Palo Alto's Albert L. Schultz Jewish Community Center. Tell that to the scores of employees who worked for Albert during his years as a senior executive with Olson Electronics/Teledyne, and to the Jewish children of the Bay Area who benefit daily from the Schultzes' gifts to local day schools and Jewish high schools.

Soon, the community will have a chance to thank Janet and Albert Schultz when the couple is honored at a JCC dinner/fund-raiser April 30 at the Palo Alto Hills Country Club.

After moving to the Bay Area in 1979, the couple quickly made an impact on the Jewish community here, offering time, money and wisdom to the federation, Hadassah, the Wexner Foundation, Israel Bonds and especially the Jewish Community Centers.

"We are very partial to the JCCs," says Albert. "Those are the institutions that don't ask any questions: Orthodox, Reform, black, white, whatever. The message is: 'Come on in, this facility is for you.'"

The Schultzes proved themselves once again with a recent $5 million gift to the JCC at the planned Campus for Jewish Life in Palo Alto. The new social hall to be built there will be named for them.

It's all so fitting. After all, Janet and Albert met at the opening of the JCC in Akron, Ohio, when both were young teenagers back in the 1920s. "Al asked me to the Menorah Club," remembers Janet. "It was Al's first date. He picked me up in his father's new Studebaker."

The romance blossomed, though it was a tough sell to the parents at first. Janet's father was a talmudic scholar who raised his daughter steeped in Jewish knowledge and tradition. Albert's mother had her own reservations about the two.

But they persisted. After high school, Janet attended Akron University while Albert enrolled at Ohio State in Columbus. "When I got into college, I was told at the outset that Jewish boys don't get anyplace in this society," says Albert. "The only place you can go is the college of engineering. So I did that, and later switched to business administration."

Despite the rigors of academia, Albert wasn't about to forget Janet. "We had to shuttle back and forth to keep the romance going," he says. "There was no heater in my car, and sometimes it was pretty cold in the winter. My roommate was a mechanic, so he drilled a hole in the floor and we got the heat from the engine."

After both graduated from college, the couple married in December 1935. Albert became an accoutant and opened his own firm. "I had dreams of having a staff," he says, "but it was difficult to obtain. This was the Depression. Prospective clients would say, 'Who needs an accountant? I know I'm in the red.'"

Janet forged a career of her own. "I was going to be a Hebrew teacher," she remembers, "but my own Hebrew teacher said, 'Don't do that. You won't make any money.' So I was a schoolteacher for eight years."

As the drumbeats of war grew louder, Albert enlisted in the army. He shipped out, serving in the transportation corps, and spent most of the war years in England and, after D-Day, on the European continent.

Meanwhile, Janet by then had already delivered the couple's first child, daughter Phyllis. Every week, she took a picture of the baby with her Brownie camera and sent it to Albert in Europe. The first time he laid eyes on her, she was already pushing her second birthday.

After the war, Albert returned to his accounting business. "I gave my clients 200 percent," he says. "That took me after dinner back to the office until 1 o'clock in the morning. The clients appreciated it, because they were getting a bargain."

One of those happy clients was a firm run by the Olson brothers, childhood friends from Akron. With an opening in the senior staff, Albert joined the fledgling firm that specialized in electronic parts and vacuum tubes. "Those were the days when you fixed the radio, you didn't throw it away," he laughs. "We did very well."

Especially when electronics conglomerate Teledyne came calling. Teledyne bought the firm, turning it into a global concern and making Schultz a wealthy man. He served a total of 26 years before retiring.

Meanwhile, another daughter, Miriam, was born, and though Albert was thoroughly dedicated to his work, he was equally dedicated to his family. Twice a year, the Schultzes packed up and traveled to a different country.

In 1979, the Schultzes moved to Menlo Park and quickly made their presence felt in the Jewish community. Albert joined the board of the Palo Alto JCC, then being built at the site of Terman Middle School. But not all was going well with the project.

"Janet and I took a walk one afternoon," recalls Albert. "As we walked past the middle school, we saw puddles on the floor of the basketball court. But the powers-that-be said they didn't have the money for a new roof."

Albert wanted to help but he had some concerns. "I said I would like to prepare the center for a proper opening, but I was a newcomer here. It might look presumptuous making a large contribution. They said, 'Don't worry about that. It's the money that counts.'"

The couple kicked in $500,000 in 1982, and the Albert L. Schultz Jewish Community Center was born.

That and countless other acts of tzedakah have made the Schultzes one of the region's power couples of philanthropy.

Why do they do it? Albert cites the motto of his old friend and mentor Harry Blumenthal: "He who gives while he lives also knows where it goes."

The couple has endured their share of sorrows. Daughter Miriam, who was a board member at the local Jewish Family and Children's Services, died of cancer 12 years ago at the age of 46. Today the Miriam Schultz Grunfeld Professional Building there is named for her.

The Schultzes' daughter Phyllis is a book editor in Seattle.

Now, the community will gather to thank Janet and Albert Schultz for all they have done, and the couple will somewhat uncomfortably take their bows. But then it's back to the symphony, or the ballet, or the latest play at ACT.

For as long as they have each other, life is still a daily adventure. When asked the age-old question of what made their marriage last, Albert says with a half-smile: "Lots of love. Lots of patience. That just about encompasses it all."




The ALSJCC Auction honoring Albert L. and Janet Schultz takes place 5-9 p.m. Sunday, April 30, at the Palo Alto Hills Country Club, 3000 Alexis Drive, Palo Alto. Tickets: $130-$160. Information: (650) 493-9400.