Harvey Morton Meyerhoff (April 6, 1927 – August 6, 2023) was an American businessman, fundraiser, and philanthropist. He was a chairman of the trustees of

Johns Hopkins Hospital Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is the teaching hospital and biomedical research facility of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1889, Johns Hopkins Hospital and its school of medicine are considered to be the foundin ...

and the founding chairman of the

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust, dedicated to the documentation, study, and interpretation of the Holocaust. Opened in 1993, the museum explores the Holocaust through p ...

Early life

Meyerhoff was born on April 6, 1927, in

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

, Maryland. His father was building contractor Joseph Meyerhoff, who had immigrated to Baltimore from Russia in 1906; he is the namesake of the

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, ...

's building, Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. Meyerhoff graduated from Forest Park Senior High School in 1945, then earned his college degree from the

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

in 1948.

Career

Meyerhoff served in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

for three years during and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After returning home, he joined Monumental Properties, the family home building business. Meyerhoff later became president of Magna Properties.

U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

On September 12, 1986, President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

appointed Meyerhoff to the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, charged with designing and building the

. The next year, he was appointed the commission's chair, serving until 1993. The prior chairman was

Elie Wiesel Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel (September 30, 1928 – July 2, 2016) was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates#1980, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored Elie Wiesel bibliogra ...

, but there were concerns as to whether he could raise the necessary funds, then design and supervise construction of the building. Meyerhoff successfully oversaw the museum's construction and raised the $150 million in private funds needed to build the museum on the

National Mall The National Mall is a Landscape architecture, landscaped park near the Downtown, Washington, D.C., downtown area of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. It contains and borders a number of museums of the Smithsonian Institu ...

in Washington, D.C. Meyerhoff personally donated $6 million of his own money. The museum opened on-time and on-budget in 1993. The names of Meyerhoff, Wiesel, and President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

are carved into the museum's cornerstone.

Personal life

Meyerhoff married Lyn Pancoe in 1948. They had four children and ten grandchildren. Meyerhoff owned a yacht named ''The Moose'' and collected glassware from

Steuben Glass Works Steuben Glass is an American art glass manufacturer, founded in the summer of 1903 by Frederick Carder and Thomas G. Hawkes in Corning, New York, which is in Steuben County, from which the company name was derived. Hawkes was the owner of the ...

. He was also a minority owner of the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles (also known as the O's) are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East Division. As one of the America ...

. Meyerhoff died at his home in Baltimore County, Maryland, on August 6, 2023.

Philanthropy

Meyerhoff helped to found the National Aquarium in Baltimore (the largest tourism attraction in the state of

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

). He and his wife were benefactors of

70 Faces Media 70 Faces Media is an American non-profit media organization focusing on the Jewish community. The name is a reference to the idea of the Torah having "70 faces", or multiple methods of espousal. The idea comes from the religious text Numbers Rab ...

. In the 1980s, Meyerhoff was the vice chairman of

and was a chairman emeritus of the Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics. Meyerhoff also helped fund the at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Meyerhoff served on the advisory board of the U.S. English Foundation, an organization that advocated for making English the official language of the United States.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meyerhoff, Harvey 1927 births 2023 deaths American construction businesspeople American businesspeople in real estate Businesspeople from Baltimore English-only movement Maryland lawyers 20th-century American philanthropists University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni American people of Russian-Jewish descent