Chana Zarrow

Tulsa World, Jan 8, 2000

Anne Zarrow, whose quiet philanthropy helped thousands through organized groups and private acts of charity, died Friday. She was 84.

Services are set for 2 p.m. Sunday at Temple Israel, with interment to follow at Rose Hill Cemetery, New B'nai Section. Services are under the direction of the Fitzgerald Ivy Funeral Home.

Oklahoma has never had a more generous and public-spirited citizen than Anne Zarrow, University of Oklahoma President David Boren said. In countless ways, she reached out to help people in need.

Sister Sylvia Schmidt, executive director of the Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry, said Zarrow was a true humanitarian, seeking to help others not to boost her own ego but because it was the right thing to do.

When you really empathize with other people, you forget yourself. To me she was the very epitome of Love your neighbor,' Schmidt said. She never lost the ability to empathize -- not pity, but empathize -- with the sufferings of others, and because she had the means to alleviate some of that pain, she did so.

In a 1990 interview, Henry Zarrow described how Mrs. Anne, as she was known to her friends, got him in volved in an effort to improve the headquarters of Project Get Together.

Anne Zarrow went to the see the charitable group's headquarters and told one of the workers, Dear, I don't mean this as criticism, but you need a new building. She went home and told her husband of the just-envisioned building fund.

Who's in charge of it? he asked.

You are, was her response.

Every day, Henry Zarrow has often said, his wife would clip out articles from the morning's newspaper and give him instructions to help the people or organizations involved.

The list of charitable organizations that have benefited from her gifts is lengthy.

She was associated with Tulsa's ma jor arts groups, including Tulsa Ballet Theater, Tulsa Opera, Tulsa Philharmonic and Philbrook Museum of Art.

In 1996, the Tulsa Arts & Humanities Council honored the Zarrows with its Harwelden Award, recognizing years of support for area arts groups.

Zarrow was one of the original volunteers at the Center for the Physically Limited, a relationship that lasted for decades.

In 1994, Tulsa Metropolitan Ministry dedicated the $1.67 million Anne and Henry Zarrow Day Center for the Homeless. The Zarrows were the moving forces behind the facility's planning and funding.

The Tulsa Library Trust has named its annual award for children's literature the Anne V. Zarrow Award. The award, given since 1991, was named in Zarrow's honor to recognize her years of work for children and literacy.

In 1990, the Support Center of Tulsa established the Anne and Henry Zarrow Share the Excellence Awards. That same year they were honored by the Mental Health Association in Tulsa with its first outstanding support of service program award.

In 1991, the Mayo Foundation honored the couple as major benefactors. That same year they were honored in Tulsa by Meals on Wheels.

In 1993, The Tam-Bao Buddhist Temple honored them for making possible the building of a classroom and activity room for the Buddhist Youth Group.

In 1986, the Zarrows established the Anne and Henry Zarrow Foundation so that they could continue their lifetimes of benevolence even after their deaths.

The foundation has been associated with the Gatesway Foundation. The couple was honored as honorary co-chairmen of the foundation's sixth annual International Balloon Festival in 1999.

In 1995, the couple also were honored as co-chairmen of Le Masquerade, the annual fund- raiser for the Mental Health Association in Tulsa.

In 1988, Anne Zarrow was the guest of honor at a Palmer Drug Abuse Program banquet. She was a longtime board member for the program.

She served on the boards of the Laureate Psychiatric Clinic and Hospital from 1990 through 1996. She also has served on the boards of the Ronald McDonald House and Tulsa Senior Services.

She is survived by her husband, Henry Zarrow of Tulsa; a son, Stuart Zarrow of Houston; a daughter, Judy Kishner of Tulsa; five grandchildren; and a great- grandson.

Friends are making memorial contributions to the Alzheimer's Association, the Day Center for the Homeless or the charity of their choice.