Memphis philanthropist Marilyn Belz dies of COVID-19
She had hand in cultural, arts and religious causes
Marilyn Belz, who helped make the Belz family name synonymous with arts philanthropy in Memphis and throughout the global Jewish community, died Tuesday of COVID-19 complications, her family confirmed Wednesday. She was 91.
A life-long Memphian, she and her husband — developer and Downtown Memphis visionary Jack Belz of Belz Enterprises — were inseparable, even as she was dying. Together, they founded the Belz Museum of Asian & Judaic Art, now on South Main Street in Downtown Memphis, in 1998. But their philanthropy extends far beyond the museum, touching some of the city’s most influential cultural, arts and religious institutions in the city, from the Orpheum Theatre to Memphis Jewish Home & Rehab. They also gave to numerous Jewish causes, including the prestigious Yeshiva University in New York City, which named its music school the Belz School of Jewish Music.
“Every corner of Memphis and every corner of Israel has their hand prints on it,” said Temple Israel Rabbi Micah Greenstein, one of her many longtime friends.
But Marilyn Belz née Hanover will be best remembered by the people who knew her as a warm, caring wife, mother and friend, according to the people who knew her best.
“She was known for her beauty, kindness, and graciousness,” the family said in a statement Wednesday morning. “She was a joy to meet and an instanta
neous maker of life-long friends. ... It is hard to imagine a more lovely lady than Marilyn Belz. She sparkled at every event or occasion she and her husband Jack attended. ... Everyone, family and otherwise, adored her for her loving and gracious countenance.”
Born in 1929 to Ruth and Edwin Hanover, she married her husband of 72 years on June 22, 1948, in the Peabody Hotel, some 27 years before the family acquired the property and made it the centerpiece of their efforts to revive Downtown Memphis. In her early life, she attended Idlewild Elementary School, Fairview Junior High, and Central High School, as well as Ward Belmont College and Memphis State University.
It’s hard to talk about Marilyn without talking about Jack, and vice versa, said Congressman Steve Cohen, D-memphis, whose father was the Belz’s pediatrician.
“She was just a very beautiful and sweet, caring lady,” Cohen said. “She was the perfect spouse for Jack. They had a marvelous marriage. They were a team.”
“No question,” he added, “she did a lot of Memphis in the arts and a lot of Jewish causes and for charities. But, overall, I think she’ll be remembered as a woman who was a great mother, a great wife, and a sweet person — which is really the greatest thing you can be remembered for.”
The Belz family has long been a pillar of the Baron Hirsch Congregation, a flagship synagogue of American Orthodox Judaism, Greenstein said. But they’re also a pillar of the entire Jewish community. Greenstein said that even in Israel, where he lived for a couple of years, he would mention he was from Memphis and people would ask him if he knew the Belz family. That was because Marilyn and Jack Belz gave “all of themselves back,” making them two of a “few American Jews nationally who contribute disproportionately, whether philanthropically or through leadership or artistically.”
“They were a unit of concern and compassion and commitment to their faith,” Greenstein said. They were model Jewish humanitarians.”
He added “It’s fair to say Marilyn and her family’s impact on the past, present and future impact of Memphis is indelible and inspiring.”
One of the more visible ways Marilyn and Jack Belz have contributed to Memphis is in the Belz Museum. They became avid collectors of Asain art after wandering into an Asian art gallery in Los Angeles in 1968, per the museum’s website. Then, in 1995, they had the idea of turning their passion into a museum, starting with an art exhibit at the Pink Palace Museum. The museum was eventually moved to Peabody Place, which was developed by the Belz family, and took the name Peabody Place Museum, before finding its current home and name. It now contains several permanent exhibits dedicated to Asian and Judaic art, as well as a historical exhibit about the Holocaust.
Marilyn Belz is survived by her husband, Jack Belz; children Marty (Julie) Belz, Gary (Shelly) Belz, Ron (Anise) Belz, the late Lynn Belz, and Jan (Andy) Groveman; 13 loving grandchildren and their spouses; and 12 great-grandchildren.
Ryan Poe is a columnist who writes The 901, a running commentary on all things Memphis. Reach him at poe@ commercialappeal.com and on Twitter @ryanpoe.