Few people can claim to be as intertwined with the history of the Kansas City Jewish community as Debbie Granoff.
A lifelong volunteer, the daughter of one of Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City’s founders and a 35-year Federation employee, Granoff’s commitment to Kansas City Jewry is more than evident.
Granoff, who celebrated her 90th birthday last month, is the daughter of Rabbi Max Bretton (z’l) and Mary Powell Bretton (z’l). Her father was instrumental in the development of the community, having served as the director of the Jewish Community Center and as a founder and first executive director of the local Jewish Federation. Bretton remained Federation director until 1946, overseeing its programming and aid efforts during World War II.
While both Granoff and the Federation were in their infancy, the two quickly became entwined.
“I remember as a child going [with my mother] door to door during [Federation’s Annual Campaign] and collecting in tzedakah boxes,” she said.
Granoff said that her baby book even includes an entry by her mother saying that at age two and a half, Granoff put some chairs, magazines and books together in a makeshift fort and said, “Don’t let anyone touch that. That’s my Federation.”
Despite this, Granoff did not originally intend to become a Jewish professional. She studied “a little bit of everything” throughout her time at Southwest High School, Northwestern University and the University of Missouri—Kansas City. She also worked at her father’s restaurant, Bretton’s, and as a professional child portrait photographer.
In 1953, she married attorney Loeb Granoff (z’l), and together they had two children, Joel and Lauri.
Granoff considered herself “a professional volunteer.” She volunteered with various community organizations, but when the 1973 Yom Kippur War in Israel occurred, she felt compelled to dedicate even more of her time to the Jewish community. She approached then-Federation Executive Director Sol Koenigsberg with her offer, telling him that she could take “whatever pictures you need from any meetings or anything that goes on — it will be my way of giving to the community during this horrific time.”
Granoff’s Federation photographs became prolific — she took photos of gatherings, campaign events, speakers and more, developing them in her darkroom at home. Her photos often were published in issues of The Kansas City Jewish Chronicle. As the 1970s and 1980s progressed, her involvement grew further beyond photography as she became Women’s Division campaign chair and president, among other lay-leadership roles.
It wasn’t until 1989, however, that Granoff’s involvement with Federation would finally turn into her career.
“I went into [then-Executive Director A. Robert Gast’s] office, and he said to me… the Federation needs a director of communications,” she said. “I read [the job description], I looked at him and I said, ‘That’s me. I want that job.’”
She applied for the job and was hired, beginning a Federation career that has lasted more than three decades. Her professional roles have also included campaign director, and she is currently the director of special campaign projects.
Granoff is proud of the myriad Federation efforts she has been involved with for the past 35 years. She has had roles in numerous projects and efforts to help with the local and worldwide Jewish community, two of which being especially meaningful to her: helping resettle Soviet Jews; and establishing the communal professional exchange between Kansas City, Bulgaria, Romania and Israel.
The Soviet Union’s collapse had already begun when Granoff was hired, and the Federation was in the midst of its “Passage to Freedom” campaign to bring and resettle Soviet Jews in the United States in Israel. One of her first major projects was covering the arrival of a Soviet Jewish family in Kansas City and writing an article about it for The Chronicle.
“When [the family] finally arrived at the airport here, the son was embraced by his mother who had come to Kansas City 10 years before and had not seen him since, and she had never seen her grandchildren,” she said. “It was an extraordinarily moving and emotional experience for all of us who were there and one I shall never forget.”
The work behind the communal professional exchange began in 2002. The Federation worked with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee to establish relationships between social workers, gerontologists, educators and funders and their counterparts in Bulgaria, Romania, and, in Israel, the Gezer Region and the city of Ramle.
“We learned from each other, each of us benefiting from our differences,” Granoff said about the exchange.
Granoff continues to work at the Federation part-time, often serving as an important resource for historical information, experienced advice and unique perspectives.
“Debbie is the gold standard of what it means to be a great Jewish community professional as well as an incredible person,” said Jonathan Schwartzbard, director of transformational giving at the Federation. “She has dedicated her life to bettering the Kansas City and global Jewish communities while consistently putting others’ needs before her own.”
Granoff has no plans to stop her involvement with the Federation and the community.
“I’m motivated by what we do here and what we do worldwide,” she said. “We care about those in need. We care about enhancing Jewish values. These are all things that energize me. [They’re] inspiring… and motivate me to do what I’ve done now for a number of years. As long as I can continue doing them, I want to do them.”
