Dorothea Haus Ross 1906 - 2000 Dorothea Haus was born in Harrow, England on August 6, 1906. "Dotsie", as she was known to her family and friends, was the younger daughter of the late Simon Victor Haus who was born in Alsace, and Anna Noeth Haus of Rochester, New York. Dorothea and her sister, Georgiana, born in 1903, spent much of their early life in England, where their father was George Eastman’s General Manager for European factories for the Eastman Kodak Company. It was his job to establish new Eastman Kodak plants in England, Hungary, and other European countries. The sisters, with their mother, made three trips to the United States during World War I. For the last trip back to England, they were to return on the British ship, Lusitania. Mr. Haus, knowing that the ship carried illegal contraband and fearing for their safety due to the threat of German submarines, ordered his family not to sail on that ship. Instead, they later made the crossing on an American owned vessel. Dorothea’s childhood was punctuated with frequent trips to Europe. She harbored fond memories of this period of her life, which included a prolonged stay in Hungary and a visit to Austria, where she and her sister were privileged to ride the famous Royal Riding School’s Cavalry horses. When Dorothea was 15 years old, and after having made 13 trips across the ocean, her father was transferred to the United States and the family moved to Rochester, New York. Dorothea’s charitable interest in children began in 1940, when she took pity on the plight of European children being removed for safety reasons from likely urban bombing targets in Europe and sent to live in rural areas or in other countries. In response to this, she began supporting an organization called "Foster Parents", and eventually became a lifetime contributor to "Save the Children". She continued to support displaced and orphaned children for the duration of the war. Later, she became sympathetic to impoverished American Indians, and began contributing generously to improve Native American welfare. In 1957, she and her husband, Richard, befriended a Native American family living in Arizona, and saw a generation of their children through college.  Between 1953 and 1970, Dorothea and Richard embarked on four trips to East Africa where they had many opportunities to meet and intereact with local Maasai villagers.  These encounters generated in Dotsie a deep affection for East Africa and its people. The idea to start a foundation devoted exclusively to problems affecting children was suggested to Dorothea by her long-time friend and attorney, Philetus M. Chamberlain, of Rochester, New York. The Foundation was established in 1977 and was a natural outgrowth of Dorothea’s 39 year tradition of helping children. She died in October 2000 at the age of 94 in Rochester, New York.