David Waldshan Educational Endowment Fund To Expand Education of Holocaust and Human Rights

Image: Ben Waldshan and Dean Michael J. Horswell

Ben and Liz Waldshan recently established the David Waldshan Educational Endowment Fund at Florida Atlantic University to expand education and deepen knowledge of the Holocaust and human rights. The fund will amplify the mission of the Arthur and Emalie Gutterman Family Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education to provide professional learning opportunities to educators in South Florida by teaching the history of the Holocaust to combat prejudice, hatred and indifference. The gift was made in memory of Ben Waldshan’s father, David Waldshan, a Holocaust survivor.

”The Florida Atlantic Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education, championing education as our best hope against hatred, is a perfect fit for us to honor my father’s greatest wish: to ensure that atrocities like the Holocaust never happen again,” said Ben Waldshan.  “In today’s current environment, where antisemitism is troublingly on the rise, we feel it’s more important than ever to support the center for its hard work and to accelerate its impact.”

The Waldshans live in Boca Raton and Ben is part of the Gutterman Family Center advisory board at Florida Atlantic. The center is based in Florida Atlantic’s Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters and serves K-12 teachers as well as Florida Atlantic students through professional development workshops, the annual Holocaust Summer Institute for Educators, intensive travel-study opportunities, and community programs. Research has demonstrated that learning about the Holocaust in school is positively associated with citizenship values in adults. Studies have also shown that Holocaust education facilitates the development of students’ tolerance and intolerance, as well as their prosocial behavioral skills.

“This endowment gift represents a commitment to education and supports our mission that education is our best hope against hatred,” said Linda Medvin, director of the Gutterman Family Center for Holocaust and Human Rights Education.

The Gutterman Family Center will be part of the future Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Holocaust and Jewish Studies Building to be built on Florida Atlantic’s Boca Raton campus.  Construction of the building is estimated for completion in the fall of 2025.

“I greatly appreciate the Waldshan’s gift honoring Ben’s father that will support the vital Holocaust education programs we offer in the college,” said Michael Horswell, dean of the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters. “As we expand the impact of the Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Building for Holocaust and Jewish Studies to include the recently announced Craig and Barbara Weiner Holocaust Museum of South Florida at Florida Atlantic University, their generosity ensures generations will continue to learn the lessons from the great misfortune that Ben’s father survived.”

For more information about the fund and the Kurt and Marilyn Wallach Holocaust and Jewish Studies building, contact Laurie Carney at lcarney@fau.edu.