Upon graduation, he served as a U.S.Navy aviator in World War II.[3] In 1945, Kislak returned to New Jersey to enter the family real estate business full-time.[3] In the early 1950s, Kislak moved his family to Miami, where established one of the country's largest privately-held mortgage banks, originating and servicing loans nationally for over 40 years.[4] He served as chairman of the Kislak Organization.[5]
From 1984 to 2020, the Kislak Foundation's philanthropic giving was focused on rare books, art, and historic documents.[6] Many of the items in the collection have been donated to the Library of Congress and several university libraries.[7]
Philanthropy
National Air and Space Museum
The Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. received $10 million from the Kislak Family Foundation to support the creation of the new "World War II in the Air" exhibition. It will be named the "Jay I. Kislak World War II in the Air" gallery.[8] The gallery will explore how World War II transformed aviation and warfare and inaugurated a new era in military aviation.[9] Flying was a family legacy[10] and Kislack celebrated his 95th birthday on the USS Intrepid (CV-11) aircraft carrier.[11]
Kislak first donated nearly 4,000 items from his collection to the Library of Congress in 2004. This included rare masterpieces of indigenous art, maps, manuscripts, and cultural treasures documenting more than a dozen Native cultures and the earliest history of the Americas.[13] In 2018, the Library of Congress appointed the first Jay I. Kislak Chair for the Study of the History and Cultures of the Early Americas.[14]
In 2023 an annual Kislak Family Foundation Prize to recognize an organization in the United States or abroad with an outsized impact on literacy relative to its size or years of operation was announced by the Library of Congress.[15]
Sothebys auction
Jay I. Kislak's substantial collection extended far beyond the nearly 4,000 items he donated to the Library of Congress. His collection included impressionist, modernist, and contemporary art and prints, photographs, designs, books and manuscripts. Sotheby’s departments are currently consigning many of works from the collection, including Richard Diebenkorn’sBerkeley Six, Raoul Dufy’s Les Martigues, Mary Cassatt’sGirl in a Hat with a Black Ribbon, Diego Giacometti’sHommage à Böcklin console, William Bourne’s A Regiment for the Sea and Daniel Giraud Elliot’sMonograph of the Felidae or Family of Cats.[16]
Kislak Center at the University of Miami and Freedom Tower at Miami Dade College
The Kislak Center at the University of Miami Libraries[17] was established with original source materials related to the history of the early Americas.[18]
Kislak Family Foundation Artist/Writer in Residence at the University of Florida
The Center for Latin American Studies at the University of Florida[22] received a donation from the Kislak Family Foundation to establish an artist/writer in residence program.[23] The program funds a visiting artist or writer who teaches courses, conducts workshops, delivers lectures, and tutors students on the main Gainesville campus.[23] The program's purpose is to bring preeminence to the University of Florida in the field of Latin American art and expose the campus community to works of art and literature.
In 2022, Gabriela Alemán was the first selected Kislak Family Foundation Artist/Writer in Residence.[24]
Kislak Real Estate Institute at Monmouth University
In 2006, on the 100th anniversary of the Kislak Real Estate Company, a seven-figure donation was made to Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey, which named its Real Estate Institute for Kislak.[25]
Honors and recognitions
In recognition of his efforts to preserve cultural heritage, Kislak was appointed by President George W. Bush to head U.S. Department of State's Cultural Property Advisory Committee from 2003 through 2008.[26] In 2013, Kislak received the Encomienda of the Order of Merit Civil from the King of Spain,[27] among other awards and appointments. In 2017 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Fundraising Professionals.[28]
Kislak and his family were among the 25 founding families of Temple Beth Am in Pinecrest, Florida, one of the largest temples in Florida. He also was a member of Temple Israel of Greater Miami in Miami and Synagogue Adas Yoshurun in Rockland, Maine.[29]
^Parsons, L. A. and Jay I. Kislak Foundation., 1993: Columbus to Catherwood, 1494-1844: 350 years of historic book graphics depicting the islands, Indians, and archaeology of the West Indies, Florida, and Mexico. Kislak bibliographic series; publication 1. Jay I. Kislak Foundation Inc., Miami Lakes, Fla.
