A tradition of caring.
Responsibility to the less fortunate.
Morris B. Zale and Edna Lipshy Zale believed that with their good fortune came responsibility to the less fortunate. They created the Zale Foundation in 1951 not only as a vehicle through which to make charitable contributions during their lifetimes, but also to provide a means for their descendants to continue to embrace the philanthropic ideals that brought an extra measure of meaning to their lives. Today, the M.B. & Edna Zale Foundation personifies its founders’ spirit of giving, their belief in the importance of community, and their tradition of caring.
M.B. was as well-known for his generosity as he was for his business acumen. An innovator in addressing the needs of the underprivileged and minorities, he held a strong commitment to education, financing many college, law school and medical school tuitions for minority students. M.B. took a special interest in helping a local HBCU, and he helped minorities break the “color barrier” at other colleges and universities.
Edna Lipshy Zale: A Guiding Force
M.B.’s beloved wife, Edna, added a very personal touch to the couple’s philanthropic pursuits. Edna was foremost a mother to her loving family, yet quietly instilled in them a philosophy of giving. She held a special empathy for the hungry and homeless and was a guiding force behind the Zale Foundation’s funding of homeless shelters and food banks.
M.B. and Edna Zale held a special place in their hearts for the less fortunate. Edna expressed her philosophy of giving succinctly, yet simply, in a 1987 Dallas Morning News article: “There’s a need and you do it,” she said. In the same article M.B. mirrored his wife’s belief: “You have a need and you see it and you take care of it.”
Today, the good works of M.B. and Edna Zale live on through the Foundation. Their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren actively participate on the Foundation board, perpetuating their tradition of caring..
Herschel’s Story.
Helping Children in Need.
The first-born child of M.B. and Edna Zale, Herschel, died of diphtheria one week prior to his third birthday. A widespread and greatly feared disease, diphtheria struck many families in the 1920’s and 1930’s.
More than fifty years later, when asked about their early charitable work, M.B. recalled the death of their beloved son, Herschel. There was an insurance policy on the family and the young couple received a small check as a result of Herschel’s death. M.B. and Edna decided to donate the insurance proceeds to a local Wichita Falls, Texas child care center devoted to the care of poor black children, the Colored Day Nursery.
At the time, another organization, the Wichita Falls Day Nursery, served poor white children. After many decades of serving children from low-income families, these two organizations merged in 1973 and have continued to operate as Child Care, Inc.
The Herschel Zale Child Care Center.
The original location for the Colored Day Nursery burned in 1975. The children who had been served at that location were moved to one of the original centers for the Wichita Falls Day Nursery at 403 Lamar Street. Built in 1925, the Lamar Street Center was still being used as a childcare center for low-income families.
In 1998, the Directors of the M.B. and Edna Zale Foundation discovered that the Lamar Center, serving more than seventy children a day, was badly in need of renovation. The Foundation’s grant of $100,000 sparked additional grants from the city of Wichita Falls and others. Major repairs and improvements to the Lamar facility were completed in 2001 and the newly renovated center was renamed the Herschel Zale Child Care Center.
Herschel Zale was an innocent child whose life ended tragically by disease, but whose memory continues to motivate others to help children in need.