Supporting American Ideals

For Irv and Nancy Chase, religious freedom is the driving force of their philanthropy

Irv Chase doesn’t recall when or where he first encountered the letter George Washington wrote in 1790 to the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island. In it, the new president famously promised its congregants that the federal government would “give to bigotry no sanction,” in effect ensuring their right to practice Judaism freely. What Chase does remember, however, was his reaction to reading those words. “It floored me,” he says. “George Washington set the tone for future presidents.”

The missive was one of many that Washington—a vestryman in the Anglican Church—would write to various religious groups, from Baptist to Jewish, assuring them of their freedom to worship. That he was so committed to the principle of religious liberty at a time when several states, including Massachusetts and South Carolina, had official state-supported churches, is nothing short of revolutionary, Chase argues. “In Europe, there were poll taxes, and Jews couldn’t vote. Here in America, they were welcome. Washington was going to make sure of that. And it wasn’t just important for Jews. He was saying, ‘I’m going to make sure that minority interests are protected.’”

The son of Holocaust survivors and a lifelong student of American history, Irv, along with his wife Nancy, has made religious freedom the driving force behind their philanthropy. He first visited Mount Vernon as a college student in the early 1970s and has been enthralled with it ever since. “I was taken aback by the beauty of it,” he says.

The Touro letter and others like it inspired several gifts from the Chases, the most recent being support for digitizing documents for online viewing and a film about Washington’s dedication to the First Amendment, which will be viewable online and in Mount Vernon’s Education Center. “I love history. I should’ve become a history teacher, but I’m a lawyer by training and went into business. So, I’m using my blessed success to teach history [this way],” he says. “I look at it as an investment in the future of this country to educate people.”

The Santa Ana, California, real estate developer credits his parents for inspiring what he calls his “patriotic philanthropy” and a passion for freedom to practice any religion, or none at all. “They were lucky to come here. They put their names on the list to go anywhere. Europe was a big Jewish graveyard. They tried to sneak into Palestine three times. Finally, my mother’s aunt found my mother through the Red Cross, and they ended up in Los Angeles,” he says. “They started with nothing, and they built these wonderful lives. They raised and educated three children and owned a home. It was the American immigrant story—the American Dream—and that’s why it’s so important for me to do this.”

Chase says he visits Mount Vernon whenever he’s in the area, but it’s not often enough. “Last time was five years ago. Every time I go, I’m reenergized, particularly when I go to Washington’s Tomb,” he says. “It has a very spiritual effect on me.”