Philanthropist donated money for animals, kids

Edna Klauser, 98, died Saturday. "Let's spread it around and watch it do some good,'' she once said of her money.

By CRAIG BASSE

© St. Petersburg Times,
published June 24, 2001

SEMINOLE -- Philanthropist Edna Klauser, who opened her pocketbook to animals and children, has died at age 98.

Since November 1997 she had been treated for congestive heart failure and a broken hip. She recovered from the broken hip but had been under home hospice care since last August because of her heart problems, said Joan Marzi, executive director of the Pinellas Animal Foundation.

Mrs. Klauser, who died Saturday (June 23, 2001), received a lifetime achievement award on May 14, 1997, from the Animal Foundation. The group of about 80 local veterinary offices was a major beneficiary of her generosity.

In October 1996, she was named Citizen of the Year by the Florida Veterinary Medical Association in recognition of a $95,000 donation to the foundation, enabling it to purchase a corporate condominium near Seminole.

It is the gathering place for about 40 at-risk youngsters from the Boys and Girls Club and Girls Inc., elderly residents of Barbee Towers in Clearwater, and assorted animals: from bats to guide dogs to rabbits.

"I love animals and children," she said in 1994. "That's my reason."

In May 1996, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of St. Petersburg named her Philanthropist of the Year. She gave $50,000 to the new cat and kitten facility at the SPCA. At the time, officials said her gift would make it possible for the SPCA to save an additional 1,000 cats each year.

"I asked (my accountant), "Can I really do it? I don't want to wind up on welfare,' " Mrs. Klauser said in an interview six years ago in discussing her donation to the Animal Foundation.

The accountant advised her to invest the money in bonds. "But I said, "Why be miserly? Let's spread it around and watch it do some good.' "

Also among her donations was an $80,000 gift to buy a carillon at Bay Pines Cemetery, the final resting place of her husband. William Klauser, a former Army captain, was an insurance executive who built the family's wealth through investments. He died in 1988.

Until her health began to fail, Mrs. Klauser, a onetime member of New York City's high-kicking Rockettes, kept busy with myriad social activities. She was an avid square dancer and line dancer. She never smoked and drank wine only on Sundays, she said in 1995.

"But I eat chocolate by the pound," she said. "You could say I do everything not according to the book."

Mrs. Klauser is survived by a niece, Carolyn Fischer of New York.

Gulf Breeze Cremation & Burial Society, Largo, is in charge of arrangements. Plans for a graveside service at Bay Pines Cemetery are pending.

- Information from Times files was used in this obituary.

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