Remembering CDT Board Member Eva K. Grove
It is with a heavy heart that we share the recent passing of California Donor Table Board member, Eva K. Grove. Eva and her daughter, Karen Grove, were a fierce mother-daughter duo who exemplified alignment, both in principles and in giving, and had served together on CDT’s Board for the past several years.
Eva was the embodiment of joy and strength in the face of challenges. She left Austria with her family at age 3, after her father was rounded up with other Jews on Crystal Night or Kristelnacht, and fortunately released because the family had papers to leave the country. Eva grew up in Bolivia until her family moved to New York City when she was 18. Her husband, Andy, whose family hid their Jewish identity to survive the Holocaust in Hungary, escaped his country in the wake of the failed Hungarian Revolution by crossing the border into Austria, where the International Rescue Committee helped him resettle in America. Both Andy and Eva found safety, support, acceptance and opportunity in the United States; but they also recognized that too many people are not treated as they were, especially Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBT people. This recognition is a cornerstone of The Grove Foundation, which they founded together in 1986. In 2018, the family launched the Grove Action Fund, a 501(c)(4) to promote social welfare, seeking to effect positive changes in policies related to women’s reproductive healthcare, immigrant rights, climate justice, social safety net services and civic engagement of marginalized communities.
As Eva said in an interview she did with CDT in 2021, her social justice work came from both her family and from her background as a social worker. She recalled her father telling her, when a person came asking for donations for the community: “it’s really important to give to people that have less than you. We should thank this person for asking, because he’s making it possible for us to do that.” She cared deeply about women’s health and immigrant rights. She spent over 20 years volunteering in a Planned Parenthood health center, and knocking doors, whether to defeat parental notification or elect supportive candidates. In response to a new wave of anti-immigrant sentiment in 2005, Eva began to focus the foundation’s funding on immigrant serving organizations. Four years later, Eva joined the board of the Immigrant Legal Resources Center, where she served on the finance committee until her passing. In addition, she spent every Thursday evening in Redwood City, helping immigrants study for their citizenship exams through the Immigrant Institute of Bay Area (IIBA).
We were grateful to have had Eva in the CDT family. Eva fully lived the Jewish concept of “tikkun olam” — to repair the world — which embodies the concepts of social responsibility and philanthropy. Eva believed in humanity’s responsibility to change, improve, and fix society, that each person has a hand in working towards the betterment of his or her own existence as well as the lives of future generations. She was aware of her good luck, and of the advantages she had as a white immigrant. She chose to “repair the world” by resourcing brilliant change-makers who did not have the same advantages.
She was always willing to share her time and energy with us whether that was writing an op-ed or talking to other potential donors about our work. She said: “once I became exposed [to CDT], I realized how involved CDT is in knowing and understanding the political system and power dynamics. That was really helpful because, to just give money to candidates because they are Democrats, was not very helpful, and I wasn’t doing a ton of research. So, I feel very empowered by it, by all of the resources that CDT brings. It’s a place where I can really figure out what is truly progressive, and what I can support. It’s one thing to have the money, but it’s so important to know where to put that money.”
Our former operations manager, Sylvie Lerner, wrote in an interview she did with Karen and Eva in 2021: “I connected with the Groves deeply. They truly taught me the power of being a team, of sharing knowledge, both from seeking it out, and from lived experience, and what a beautiful thing it is to challenge one’s perspective and grow.”
Ludovic Blain, CDT’s Executive Director, remembered Eva this way: “Eva was joyful, disciplined, focused, empathetic, grounded, kind and funny. She always wanted to do what was best for the progressive groups and candidates we support, what was best for movement building, what was best for winning. I so appreciated her being such an important part of CDT. We will miss her spirit and wit as much as her presence.”
CDT Board Chair and co-Founder, Quinn Delaney, said of Eva: “She was a remarkable woman. Eva was very clear about what was important to her and important for the good of the world. She leaned into that, always there when needed.”
May her memory be a blessing to all who knew her. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. In the meantime, the family has asked for contributions to be sent to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ilrc.org) in lieu of flowers and gifts.
