Ella Sachs Plotz Explained

Ella Sachs Plotz
Birth Name:Ella Sophia Sachs
Birth Date:November 10, 1888
Birth Place:New York City, US
Death Date:April 13, 1922
Death Place:Paris, France
Occupation:Philanthropist
Known For:Ella Sachs Plotz Foundation
Spouse(S):Harry Plotz
Parents:Samuel Sachs
Relatives:Goldman-Sachs family

Ella Sachs Plotz (November 10, 1888 – April 13, 1922) was an American philanthropist, for whom the Ella Sachs Plotz Foundation for the Advancement of Scientific Investigation was named after.

Early life

Ella Sachs was born in New York City, the daughter of banker Samuel Sachs and Louisa Goldman Sachs. The extended Goldman–Sachs family was Jewish. Her father and maternal grandfather Marcus Goldman founded Goldman Sachs, an investment banking firm. Her eldest brother Paul J. Sachs was a professor of fine arts, and associate director of the Fogg Museum at Harvard University.[1]

Philanthropy and personal life

Sachs was elected to the board of directors of the National Urban League in 1915.[2] [3] During World War I she was a canteen worker in France, Italy, and England with the YMCA.[4] She was a trustee of Fisk University.[5]

Ella Sachs married physician and bacteriologist Henry (Harry) Plotz in 1920. Judge Benjamin Cardozo officiated at their wedding.[6] She died in childbirth in 1922, aged 33 years, in Paris.

Legacy

The Ella Sachs Plotz Foundation made hundreds of small cash grants to individual scientists worldwide,[7] "toward the solution of problems in medicine and surgery or in branches of science bearing on medicine and surgery".[8] [9] Beneficiaries included biochemist Hans Krebs,[10] neurosurgeon Roy Glenwood Spurling, and pharmacologist Henry Gray Barbour.[11] The foundation's papers are in the Harvard Art Museums Archives, part of the Papers of Paul J. Sachs.[12]

Plotz left the National Urban League $5000 in her will,[13] and the Urban League created an Ella Sachs Plotz Fellowship program in her memory, open to Black students pursuing social work degrees.[14] [15] [16] Recipients of the Plotz Fellowship included educator Ethel McGhee Davis and economist Abram Lincoln Harris.[17]

In 1924, Fisk University established an Ella Sachs Plotz Professorship, endowed by a memorial gift from her brother.[18]

Notes and References

  1. News: McCue. George. 1965-03-28. The Museum Impact of Paul Sachs. 43. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 2021-10-05. Newspapers.com.
  2. Book: Salzman. Jack. Struggles in the Promised Land: Toward a History of Black-Jewish Relations in the United States. West. Cornel. 1997. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-508828-1. 137. en.
  3. Book: Greenberg, Cheryl Lynn. Troubling the Waters: Black-Jewish Relations in the American Century. 2010-03-15. Princeton University Press. 978-1-4008-2707-7. 24. en.
  4. News: 1922-04-14. Ella Sachs Plotz. 11. New-York Tribune. 2021-10-05. Newspapers.com.
  5. May 1922. The Cause of Humanity Made Poorer by Death of Mrs. Ella Sachs Plotz. The Fisk University News. 12. 21–23.
  6. News: 1920-11-25. Plotz-Sachs. 15. The New York Times. 2021-10-05. Newspapers.com.
  7. News: 1925-07-10. Grant for Research in Bright's Disease. 5. The News and Observer. 2021-10-05. Newspapers.com.
  8. 1933-09-01. Ninth Annual Report of the Ella Sachs Plotz Foundation for the Advancement of Scientific Investigation, 1932.. Archives of Internal Medicine. en. 52. 3. 494. 10.1001/archinte.1933.00160030155014. 0003-9926.
  9. 1941-08-29. The Ella Sachs Plotz Foundation for the Advancement of Scientific Investigation. Science. en. 94. 2435. 215–216. 10.1126/science.94.2435.215. 17776211. 1941Sci....94..215. . 42437953. 0036-8075.
  10. Book: Holmes, Frederic Lawrence. Hans Krebs: The formation of a scientific life, 1900-1933. 1991. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-507072-9. 238. en.
  11. News: 1927-01-20. U. of L. Doctors Get $500 for Tests. 10. The Courier-Journal. 2021-10-05. Newspapers.com.
  12. Web site: Ella Sachs Plotz Foundation, [1922-1954],, part of the Papers of Paul J. Sachs]. 2021-10-04. Harvard Art Museums Archives.
  13. News: 1922-07-22. Leaves Urban League $5,000. 1. The Broad Ax. 2021-10-05. Newspapers.com.
  14. October 1934. Urban League Fellowships. Opportunity. 12. 318.
  15. Feingold. S. Norman. November 1955. How to Get a Scholarship. The Crisis. 532.
  16. News: 1934-09-22. National Urban League Announces Fellowships. 3. The New York Age. 2021-10-05. Newspapers.com.
  17. News: 1923-08-25. Urban League Scholarships in Social Work Awarded to Ethel McGee and 3 Others. 8. The New York Age. 2021-10-05. Newspapers.com.
  18. News: 1924-06-04. $50,000 Gift to Fisk Announced at Commencement; Fund Will Establish Ella Sachs Plotz Professorship. 1. The Tennessean. 2021-10-05. Newspapers.com.

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