View source for Mimi Haas

{{short description|American businesswoman and philanthropist}}
{{Infobox person
| name         = Miriam L. "Mimi" Haas
| image        =
| caption      =
| birth_name   = Miriam Ruchwarger
| birth_date   = {{birth year and age|1946}}
| birth_place  = [[New Jersey]], US
| death_date   =
| death_place  =
| education    = [[George Washington University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]])
| occupation   = Businesswoman
| known for    =
| boards       = [[Levi Strauss & Co.]]
| spouse       = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Brian Lurie|1968}}
* {{marriage|[[Peter E. Haas]]|1981|2005|end=died}}
}}
| children     = 2, including [[Daniel Lurie]]
| parents      =
| relatives    = [[Peter E. Haas Jr.]] (stepson)
| website      =
}}
'''Miriam "Mimi" Lurie Haas''' (born 1946) is an American [[billionaire]] businesswoman. She is the widow of [[Peter E. Haas]], who was the great-grandnephew of [[Levi Strauss]], the founder of denim manufacturer [[Levi Strauss & Co.]]
==Early life==
She was born Miriam Ruchwarger in 1946 in New Jersey, the daughter of Nancy (née Zdenka) and Avram Ruchwarger, Jewish refugees from Yugoslavia.<ref name=Riedel>{{Cite web|first=Mija |last= Riedel|authorlink=   |title=Oral history interview with Mimi Haas  |website=[[Archives of American Art]], [[Smithsonian Institution]]|date=October 26, 2018 |url= https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-mimi-haas-17617#transcript |accessdate=}}</ref><ref name="OAC">{{cite news |last1=Glaser |first1=Eleanor |title=Jewish Community Federation Leadership Oral History Project Former Executive Director, Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, 1974-1991 Brian L. Lurie |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/view?docId=kt3j49n8rt&brand=oac4&doc.view=entire_text |accessdate=15 February 2019 |work=Jewish Community Federation Leadership Oral History Project |publisher=OAC |date=1997}}</ref> She was raised in [[Annapolis, Maryland]] and then in the [[Washington D.C.]] suburbs<ref name=Riedel/> where her father was a psychiatrist.<ref name=Riedel/> She attended [[Oxon Hill High School]], in [[Oxon Hill]], a suburb of Washington, DC, and graduated in the class of 1964.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://old-friends.co/class.php?s=13509&c=1964|title=Old Friends - Class of 1964 - Oxon Hill High School - $3 Lifetime subscription|author=|date=|website=old-friends.co|accessdate=15 February 2019}}</ref> She earned a degree in political science from [[George Washington University]].<ref name="businesswire.com"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www2.gwu.edu/~alumni/yearbooks/CHERRY_TREE_1965_ST.pdf|title = GW Alumni Association &#124; the George Washington University}}</ref>
==Career==
Haas is president of the Miriam and Peter Haas Fund, since August 1981.<ref name="stanford.edu">{{cite web|url=http://dci.stanford.edu/miriam-l-haas/|title=Mimi Haas|author=|date=|website=stanford.edu|accessdate=15 February 2019}}</ref><ref name="businesswire.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20040702005255/en/Levi-Strauss-Names-Miriam-L.-Haas-Board|title=Levi Strauss & Co. Names Miriam L. Haas to its Board of Directors|author=|date=2 July 2004|website=www.businesswire.com|accessdate=15 February 2019}}</ref>
In July 2004, Haas was elected as a director of Levi Strauss & Co, succeeding her husband, who stood down as chairman emeritus.<ref name="businesswire.com"/>
Haas is{{When|date=February 2024}} vice chair of the board of trustees and chair of the committee on painting and sculpture of the [[New York Museum of Modern Art]], and vice chair of the [[San Francisco Museum of Modern Art]].<ref name="stanford.edu"/>
In 2019, Haas owned nearly 17% of Levi Strauss & Co, making her a billionaire, following the February 2019 plan for the company to be publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.<ref name="Forbes">{{cite news |last1=Yakowicz |first1=Will |date=14 February 2019 |title=As Jeans Giant Levi Strauss Prepares To Go Public, New Billionaire Emerges |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2019/02/14/as-jean-giant-levi-strauss-prepares-to-go-public-new-billionaire-emerges/ |accessdate=2024-02-01 |work=Forbes}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Devon Pendleton |date=13 February 2019 |title=A $2.5 Billion Blue Jeans Fortune Emerges With Levi's IPO Plan |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2019/02/14/as-jean-giant-levi-strauss-prepares-to-go-public-new-billionaire-emerges/ |accessdate=2024-02-01 |website=Bloomberg LP}}</ref> As of 2024, she owned 11%.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Regimbal |first=Alec |date=2024-01-30 |title=Billionaire mother of SF mayoral candidate spends $1M on her son's race |url=https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/billionaire-mom-gives-1m-to-son-s-sf-mayoral-race-18638051.php |access-date=2024-02-01 |website=SFGATE |language=en}}</ref> In 2021, Forbes estimated her net worth to be around $1.4 billion.<ref name=":0" />
==Personal life==
On June 12, 1968, she married Brian Lurie, who she had met in Israel when on an [[American Friends of the Hebrew University]] program.<ref name="OAC"/> Rabbi Brian Lurie was head of the Jewish Community Federation for many years, and now{{When|date=February 2024}} runs the progressive New Israel Foundation.<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://www.ozy.com/provocateurs/the-robin-hood-of-the-bay/30835|title=The Robin Hood of the Bay|first=Pooja|last=Bhatia|date=8 April 2014|website=OZY|accessdate=15 February 2019}}</ref> They had two sons, Ari Lurie and [[Daniel Lurie]], who runs [[Tipping Point Community]].<ref name="auto"/><ref name="nytimes"/>
She was married to [[Peter E. Haas]] (his second marriage) from 1981 until his death in 2005.<ref name="nytimes">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/06/business/peter-haas-86-executive-during-levi-strauss-heyday-dies.html|title=Peter Haas, 86, Executive During Levi Strauss Heyday, Dies|first=Wolfgang|last=Saxon|newspaper=The New York Times|date=6 December 2005|publisher=|accessdate=15 February 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/THE-HAAS-LEGACY-How-one-family-s-generosity-and-2583444.php|title=THE HAAS LEGACY / How one family's generosity and commitment to civic life are transforming the Bay Area|first=Julian|last=Guthrie|date=1 July 2007|website=SFGate|accessdate=15 February 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|first= Eleanor|last= Glaser |authorlink=   |title= Peter E. Haas - President, Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties, 1977-1978 - Interviews Conducted by Eleanor Glaser|publisher=Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library [[University of California, Berkeley]]|date=1992 |url=http://digitalassets.lib.berkeley.edu/roho/ucb/text/haas_peter_jcf__w.pdf  |quote=I dated Jewish girls, though I went around with non-Jewish girls, That was one of those things you went through. My first wife was not Jewish. }}</ref>
She lives{{When|date=February 2024}} in San Francisco.<ref name="observer.com">{{cite web|url=https://observer.com/2010/04/she-haas-the-right-stuff-levis-chairwoman-buys-schwabs-834-fifth-penthouse-for-125-m/|title=She Haas the Right Stuff! Levi's Chairwoman Buys Schwab's 834 Fifth Penthouse for $12.5 M.|author=|date=8 April 2010|website=observer.com|accessdate=15 February 2019}}</ref>
In 2010, she bought one of the apartments owned by [[Charles R. Schwab]] at [[834 Fifth Avenue]], New York, for $12.5 million.<ref name="observer.com"/>
Around 2024, she donated $1 million to a committee supporting the candidacy of her son Daniel Lurie for mayor of San Francisco.<ref name=":0" /> A report by ''[[The San Francisco Standard]]'' concluded that this was possibly "the largest contribution to a committee in support or opposition of a candidate in San Francisco history."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Koehn |first=Josh |date=2024-01-30 |title=Mom Drops $1M to Help Lurie Win San Francisco Mayor's Race |url=https://sfstandard.com/2024/01/30/daniel-lurie-mom-spends-million-dollars-san-francisco-mayor-race/ |access-date=2024-02-01 |website=The San Francisco Standard |language=en}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haas, Mimi}}
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:American billionaires]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:Female billionaires]]
[[Category:Haas family]]
[[Category:People from Oxon Hill, Maryland]]
[[Category:21st-century American Jews]]