About Russ Berrie

• On his background
• On selling and entrepreneurship
• As a philanthropist

As a philanthropist

Russ Berrie and Patricia W. Chisholm, foster mother, at the 1998 Making a Difference Award

Russell Berrie devoted endless time, energy and resources to numerous charitable causes. As a private individual, through corporate donations and through The Russell Berrie Foundation, which was created in 1985, he supported organizations and fostered initiatives that expressed his values, passions and vision in the areas of diabetes, humanism in medicine, Jewish continuity, salesmanship as a profession, arts and culture, honoring New Jersey’s unsung heroes, and strengthening the Bergen County community.

His support of philanthropic organizations earned him numerous awards and public recognition. Fortune magazine, in its February 6, 1998 issue, honored Mr. Berrie as one of the forty most generous Americans. The Russell Berrie Foundation earned the 2001 Outstanding Foundation Award presented by the New Jersey Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. In November, 2002, he and his wife, Angelica, were honored as Humanitarians of the Year by the New York Chapter, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.