In this periodic series, our writers share thoughts on a wide variety of themes and issues. Today, arts writer Meredith Moss pays tribute to Miriam Rosenthal who is being honored at the upcoming “American Mosaic” concert.
Dear Miss Rosenthal,
I’ve seen your name so often over the years and have always pictured you as a fancy, wealthy socialite who decided to leave her fortune to a city she loved. What I’ve learned in recent weeks — from those who knew you well — is that your story is much more interesting.
What I’ve learned is that you were an unassuming and soft-spoken woman who had little personal wealth but did have a terrific knack for working behind the scenes to inspire others to share their resources with the community. I discovered that following your death, a group of Dayton’s most prominent citizens created a memorial trust fund in your name to benefit the institutions you so cherished.
I’ve come to realize that much of what I love most about Dayton — especially when it comes to the arts — can be traced back to you and your legacy. So I thought I’d write — on behalf of myself and our community — to say thanks.
Thanks for sharing your fundraising and public relations skills to make sure we had a remodeled Memorial Hall and an expanded University of Dayton. Today, U.D., Wright State University and Sinclair Community College all have buildings that bear your name. Thank you for the birth of the National Museum of the United States Air Force and the growth of Kettering, Good Samaritan, St. Elizabeth and Miami Valley hospitals. Thanks for Beth Abraham Synagogue and a $10 million expressway program, not to mention the myriad campaigns which made a difference to so many organizations — the Dayton Boys Clubs and the American Red Cross; the United Jewish Appeal and the United Theological Seminary; the Salvation Army Citadel and Goodwill Industries; the Boy Scouts of America; the YMCA and YWCA and our Dayton-Montgomery County Public Library. No wonder you were known as “the power behind Dayton’s civic throne.”
You were also dubbed “The Dayton Impresario, determined to make the Gem City a center of culture. In addition to being the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestras first manager and guiding the DPO’s business affairs and public relations for more than 30 years, you staged three seasons of grand opera, and brought world-famous orchestras, concert artists and dance companies to Memorial Hall. In the introductory program notes for the DPO’s 1977-78 season it states, “She was determined to give Dayton the best of the performing arts and she was also determined that every Daytonian should have the opportunity to attend the performances she sponsored, even if it meant she had to pay for the tickets herself.”
Jeanne Betty Weiner, known as Mother Goose at KinderConcerts for years, told me you did everything in a refined and quiet way but insists no one over the years has had the kind of impact you had on our town and region. “There was this comfortable warmth about her, nothing flowery or ostentatious,” Mrs. Weiner said. “She welcomed everybody. She acted like she didn’t realize how important she was.”
Your goddaughter, Marcia Burick, describes you as a quiet dynamo who was brilliant and could talk about any subject. She remembers your wonderful laugh that was almost a giggle. The daughter of Dayton Daily News sportswriter Si Burick, Marcia remembers that you and her folks would gather together, calendar in hand, to make sure that University of Dayton basketball games were never scheduled on the same night as a Philharmonic concert because many people enjoyed attending both.
Marcia worked for your PR firm in the summers of 1959 and 1960 and describes your suite of offices at the Biltmore Hotel as a “warm and loving place” with a mix of staffers that was always inclusive in terms of race and age. “Aunt Miriam had something to do with Antioch’s Shakespeare Festival,” she recalls,” “so sometimes she’d say it was time to close the office and go watch a rehearsal. We’d all leave and go to Antioch.”
Marcia said you were a feminist before the term was popular. “She told me I could do anything I wanted to do in this world at a time women were not saying that to other women,” she said. “She offered unconditional love and encouragement.”
I hadn’t realized that you were born in Lebanon, Ohio, as the daughter of Russian immigrants, or that you were a Steele High School graduate and attended both the University of Cincinnati and Ohio State University. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that you spent years as a newspaper writer — for both the Dayton Herald and my own paper, the Dayton Daily News — writing articles and columns on subjects ranging from crime to love advice. And I didn’t know that you had established the Ohio News Bureau and written for national news-feature syndicates.
I know now that you were a great friend of James M. Cox, Jr., the publisher of our Dayton Daily News. In 1965, after your death he wrote, “Miriam Rosenthal loved this town. Her every deed and action evidenced this affection. Whenever a problem arose, she was the intelligent, cheerful advisor to whom people of all walks of life turned . Ever radiant and indefatigable, she dedicated her life to the betterment of this community. Her spirit and memory will remain as an inspiration.”
NCR chairman, Robert Ohlman, noted that whatever field you touched, your “skillful ability helped create a spirit of cooperation, which was, and hopefully still is, one of the outstanding characteristics of our area.”
Miss Rosenthal, you would be so thrilled to know that that spirit of cooperation to which Mr. Ohlman referred, is still present in Dayton. The collaborations taking place today — especially when it comes to the arts — are so exciting! So thank you, thank you, for devoting your life to all of us and the generations that will follow and for giving us a chance to get to know you and honor you on this special occasion, the 50th anniversary of the Miriam Rosenthal Foundation for the Arts. We all take pride in honoring you.
With admiration,
Meredith Moss
To learn more about the Miriam Rosenthal Foundation for the Arts, visit miriamrosenthalfoundation.org
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