"Worcester native Myra Kraft remembered for 'big heart'"

Telegram & Gazette | Boston Globe

Rev. John E. Brooks, S.J., president emeritus at the College of the Holy Cross, tells the Telegram & Gazette it’s not hard to understand why Myra H. Kraft, wife of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, had such “a big heart” and had always tried to help the misfortunate through her charitable efforts.

"After all, she was the daughter of Jack Hiatt," said Fr. Brooks in a recent interview, referring to Jacob “Jack” Hiatt, the Worcester philanthropist and his longtime friend.

Jack Hiatt served as an associate trustee and was one of the first four laymen appointed to the Holy Cross board of Trustees. Fr. Brooks gave the eulogy at Hiatt's memorial service when he died in February 2001. 

Fr. Brooks tells the Boston Globe: “Jack was a great benefactor of Holy Cross. He was on our board and was a very important person to the city of Worcester. I was a regular attendee of the annual Passover dinner at the Hiatt home when Myra was still living in Worcester. What struck me about Myra was that she was very proud and was a wonderful mother to her four boys.’’

Myra's parents established two wings of Dinand Library at the College, honoring the memory of victims of the Holocaust and housing collections of literature about the Holocaust.

Also, to encourage greater understanding between Christians and Jews, Hiatt along with his daughter and son-in-law, Robert Kraft, made a major gift to Holy Cross and Brandeis University to endow two professorships in comparative religion: the Kraft-Hiatt Chair in Judaic Studies at Holy Cross and the Kraft-Hiatt Chair in Christian Studies at Brandeis University. Alan Avery-Peck, professor and chair of the religious studies department, has served as the Kraft-Hiatt Professor in Judaic Studies at Holy Cross since 1993.

Fr. Brooks tells the Telegram & Gazette, “Myra was so very much like her father, always looking to help people. She was a fine woman and a proud mother.”

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This “Holy Cross in the News” item by Cristal Steuer.