The History of Montefiore

1882: Montefiore is founded as the Kesher Home for Aged and Infirm Israelites by a Jewish fraternity, the Order of Kesher Shel Barzel, to house persons from a nine-state area who are 65 and older,
reasonably healthy, and in need of shelter.

	Jacob Rohrheimer served as Montefiore’s first president when the Home opened in 1882 at Woodland Road and East 55th Street. The first residents were 40 “old and poverty-stricken Israelites.”

1884: Marking his 100th birthday, British philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore makes a
contribution to the new home of 250 English pounds, and the Montefiore name is added to the name of the Cleveland institution.

1900: The home has become engulfed in the combustion of city life, and agency leaders
begin to think about relocation to a healthier, more tranquil environment.

1904: As an original beneficiary agency of the
Federation of Jewish Charities (now the Jewish Community Federation), Montefiore receives an allocation of $3,200 – nearly 10 percent of the Federation’s initial disbursements.

1918: With the Woodland neighborhood continuing to turn more commercial and congested, Montefiore moves to the 5.5 acres it purchased for
$30,000 in 1917 on Mayfield Road in Cleveland Heights.

	Montefiore’s elegant new home in Cleveland Heights in 1919 accommodated 8 couples and 45 single people in mainly private rooms. A small vegetable farm and garden enabled residents to do light work and enjoy the outdoors.

1921: Armin Berger, the home’s first executive director, begins a 20-year tenure.

1923: The agency name is shortened to The Montefiore Home. Residents still need to
be healthy to be admitted; just one nurse is on duty during the day for accidents and colds.

1932: Nearly all produce consumed by the residents is grown on the property. The payroll for nine regular employees is $225 a month.

In the 1940s, Montefiore began to transcend simply care-taking and entered an era of comprehensive services. In 1947, Montefiore became the first home in the country to care for residents with dementia.

1941: Dr. Julius Weil takes the professional helm of Montefiore in 1941 – soon joined by his wife Helen in social services – and residential care quickly expands to areas such as occupational therapy, recreation activities, and skilled nursing.

1949: By providing students field work training at the home, Montefiore enables Western Reserve University’s School of Applied Social Sciences to become the first graduate school in the country
to offer geriatric casework.

In 1954, Eleanor Roosevelt stated, “The Montefiore Home in Cleveland Heights is perhaps one of the most advanced experiments for old people.”

1955: To respond to the doubling of its population in the past 15 years – to more than 120 residents – Montefiore expands and updates its 36-year-old building and constructs a garden unit.

1957: The Montefiore Auxiliary is established to
enhance the quality of life of residents and clients, to raise funds, to help maintain Montefiore’s Jewish identity and to foster interest in Montefiore throughout the community.

1965: The bustling home now accommodates 164
residents and 30 additional seniors in the day care program. To meet the needs of the increasing number of individuals with physical and mental impairments, Montefiore gains growing recognition for its full-time nursing care for non-ambulatory patients and expanded therapy and social programs.

1970s-1980s: Under executive directors Bernie
Stregevsky, Ira Robbins, and Ed Vinocur, Montefiore continues to enhance medical and social service programs. Meanwhile, through short-term care, the agency enables many individuals to rehabilitate themselves and return to independence at home.

“For All Our Tomorrows,” the capital fund raising campaign launched in 1988, sparked donations from 2300 contributors and generated $12 million for the new building in Beachwood.

1991: The new Montefiore opens, housing 240 residents and offering specialty services such as short-term rehabilitative care and convalescent care. The new kitchen operates under strict dietary laws.

1992: The National Council of Jewish Women
commits funding through a bequest from the Sadie and Maurice Friedman Foundation to Montefiore’s new hospice program, the first nursing home-based, Jewish hospice licensed by the state of Ohio.

1995: The Montefiore Foundation is created to
build the endowment and expand Montefiore’s financial independence.

1999: Montefiore leaders plan an elegant assisted
living facility on 46 acres in Bainbridge and receive a $2.5 million grant from the Cornelia Schnurmann
Foundation to advance the project.

2000: Montefiore enters the new millennium with a
new professional leader, Keith A. Myers, charged
with continuing to raise Montefiore’s quality of care, its overall scope, and its reach into the community.

2001: Seeking approval from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations for the first time, Montefiore receives outstanding
evaluations in all five areas of resident care.

2002: Montefiore reflects on its historic roots and recent innovations as the home celebrates its 120th anniversary... committed to moving forward
“from strength to strength.”