The Enduring Legacy of Ronald and Ethel Gruen

Building a Future Rooted in Faith, Family and Jewish Education

Ronald and Ethel Gruen were partners in every sense—devoted to one another, to Jewish education, and to building a vibrant Jewish future.

Long before “day school affordability” became a communal rallying cry, the Gruens were already leading the charge quietly, steadily and with conviction, laying the foundation for a multi-generational partnership with Yeshiva University.  

Their commitment was rooted in personal history: both Ethel and Ronald grew up in families steeped in Jewish tradition and responsibility. Together, they raised four children and built a life that fused faith, generosity and a deep commitment to Jewish continuity.

Early Years and Shared Vision

Born in 1915 in Czernovitz, Austria (now Ukraine), Ronald Gruen immigrated to New York in 1934 and earned a degree from City College. Trained as a tool and die maker, Jewish learning was a passion. He pursued graduate studies in Jewish history and later taught adult courses on Jewish Mysticism, Psalms, Ecclesiastes and history. He treasured Yiddish as both the language of his youth and a gateway to Jewish culture and literature.

Ethel Agatstein Gruen was born in 1920 in the Bronx, the only daughter among four siblings. Brilliant, warm and determined, she managed the family’s household accounts as a young girl and graduated high school at 16 before earning a B.A. in Business Administration from Hunter College.

Ethel met “Ronnie,” her second cousin, when she was 14 and he was 19 and newly arrived from Europe. Their 67-year marriage endured until Ronnie’s passing in 2009 at age 94; Ethel followed in 2021 at age 100, leaving behind a legacy of devotion to learning, family, and Jewish life.

A New Chapter in Dallas

In 1952, the Gruens moved to Dallas, where they built Gruen Manufacturing Company (a tool and die company), and Dart Development and Remington Development (commercial real estate development companies) into successful ventures, all while raising their four children. “We worked hard all our lives,” Ethel said, “so we could care for our parents, our family and ourselves, and share as we could, without relying on anyone.”

Ethel’s early passion for Jewish life—learning Hebrew as an adult and guiding herself through Jewish texts—deepened into a lifetime of communal involvement. “That’s who I am,” she once said of helping others. “It fills my being.”

When her children were compelled to participate in Christian prayers at their Dallas public school, Ethel met directly with education officials to object to the practice and advocate for change—ensuring that her children, and others, could maintain their Jewish identity in the classroom.

Lifelong Advocates for Jewish Education

The Gruens went on to help found Akiba Academy of Dallas and played a pivotal role in establishing the city’s first Jewish high school, Yavneh Academy, laying the foundation for a flourishing Jewish community in Dallas. “My father’s love of learning inspired his work in education,” reflected his daughter, Debbie Gruen. “It reflected his deep conviction that the secular and the religious were, in their truest nature, fully intertwined. He spent his life trying to enhance that reality as much as possible.”

Enduring Connection to Yeshiva University

As YU Benefactors, Ronald and Ethel’s longstanding partnership with Yeshiva University reflected their deep belief that Jewish education was the cornerstone for continuity and values-driven leadership, and that the high-school level was an especially critical juncture.

In the course of their work as both leaders and philanthropists, they identified a crisis jeopardizing their efforts: by high school, many students were abandoning much of what was invested in their Jewish education, convinced it was irrelevant in the face of a heady secular world. “We were certain that the Modern Orthodox Jewish high school could be the pivot point to correct that misperception and that we could do something to help make that happen,” Ethel recalled. In 2004, the couple established the Ronald & Ethel Gruen Endowed Fund for the Advancement of Secondary Jewish Education, a visionary initiative administered by YU’s Azrieli Graduate School of Education & Administration to strengthen Jewish high schools. The fund created ripples across the Jewish educational world, inspiring other donors to prioritize affordability and access. In recognition of their impact, both were awarded honorary doctorates. Then-President Richard Joel observed that Ronald Gruen, “…had the vision to see what others do not, and to act as others must”, and praised Ethel Gruen as “a true aristocrat of the spirit.”

Their vision continues through the Gruen Fellows Program, which helps fortify the pipeline from Jewish high schools to higher education, empowering the next generation of Jewish leaders. “We wanted students to experience what we already knew,” Ethel said, “that there needn’t be a contradiction in living a religiously engaged, yet secularly robust, life.”

Today, the Gruens’ children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren carry that vision forward, upholding the values Ronald and Ethel lived by. “My parents opened a lasting channel to experience Judaism as joyful, meaningful and liberating,” said Debbie Gruen. “Their legacy endures in every Jewish life shaped by learning, faith and generosity.”