U.S. Holocaust Museum receives $17M gift from estate

Gift constitutes museum's largest ever; Eric F. Ross and his latewife Lore previously donated more than $12 million to the museum, totaling more than $30 million. ..

"Having experienced firsthand Nazi anti-Semitism and hatred, Eric and Lore Ross became determined and generous investors in Holocaust education," museum director Sara Bloomfield said in announcing the gift. "Their loss and suffering inspired remarkable generosity."

After fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938, Eric Ross returned to Europe in 1942 as a U.S. Army soldier with a group of German-speaking soldiers trained at Camp Ritchie in Maryland. They were known as the "Ritchie Boys." Ross was awarded a Bronze Star for his service.
After the war, he founded Alpha Chemical and Plastics in Newark, N.J., and later Mercer Plastics Co. in Florida. Ross sold the companies in 1985. In 2003, President George W. Bush appointed Eric Ross to serve on the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council.