Westfield native takes joy in helping others

from The Republican
Thursday, December 21, 2006

By GEORGE GRAHAM
ggraham@repub.com

It took a ghost and three spirits one long winter's night to teach Ebeneezer Scrooge what Albert F. Ferst has long held dear to his heart.

"If people would learn to enjoy helping other people this would be a better world," Ferst said.

It goes without saying that the 87-year-old Westfield native has little in common with writer Charles Dickens' miser plagued by Christmas Eve visitations - save, perhaps, a keen mind for business.

Ferst surely embodies, however, the spirit of the enlightened Scrooge who awakens to bells on Christmas morning.

And, if the man who soared from humble beginnings right here in his hometown on Phelps Avenue ever required a catalyst for big-hearted generosity, it wasn't brought on by spirits or ghosts.

That, Ferst insists, all comes from his late wife, Amelia.

"She is one of a kind," Ferst said of Amelia. "She made me more than I could be."

Amelia died nine years ago but the strength of their bond endures. Ferst often speaks of his beloved "Millie" in the present tense. He says he talks to her every day.

Westfield, many here will tell you, would be a poorer place but for the Fersts.

"They are the definition of philanthropy," said Mayor Richard K. Sullivan Jr.

The Fersts' single biggest gift to the city, Amelia Park ice arena and its adjacent Amelia's Garden, tallies to some $6.5 million in construction costs. It's not about the money, though, Ferst said during a recent interview at Amelia Park. "This is all about her," he said of his wife.

That and all happy faces that he sees at the arena every day, Ferst said.

"It's used non-stop, and it's not just the ice," general manager John J. McCormack said of the busy facility.

Ferst said Amelia fully supported the project. She died, however, before its fruition.

Amelia Ferst never saw the impressive lobby with its welcoming fireplace, the countless skaters of all ages and abilities enjoying the ice, her namesake garden abloom in the spring or filled with excited children waiting to see Santa on a winter morning.

Amelia, Ferst said, would be very happy with the result. Although, he said, his unassuming wife would be somewhat embarrassed that he named it after her.

"We both felt very pleased when we could help someone and see them smiling," Ferst said.

Much of the Ferst philanthropy has centered on what is now known as the Amelia Park complex which is also home to the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Westfield and the Amelia Park Children's Museum set to open June 1.

When the club was facing serious financial challenges in 1997 the Fersts donated $372,000 to pay off the mortgage.

More recently Ferst gave what was then known as the Discover Westfield Children's Museum a $1 million challenge grant to construct a facility near the club and ice arena.

Construction of the glass-fronted 10,000 square-foot museum, is nearly complete and fund-raising is ongoing towards its plan for a world-class array of exhibits.

But it's far more than just giving. Ferst asks his beneficiaries to give deeply of themselves as well.

"Al looks for people to step up," Douglas J. Dell, chairman of museum board of directors. "To step up in the quality of their commitment to making sure that the future is secure."

Ferst, the son of a common laborer, grew up on Phelps Avenue in what he describes as a very humble home.

"I can remember very clearly what it was like to be poor," Ferst said. "I went around barefoot all summer. We couldn't afford a pair of sneakers."

After graduating from Westfield High School in 1937, several different jobs and a stint in the Army, Ferst opened a sporting goods store on Elm Street.

But he quickly figured out there was more to be made in wholesale and took on a share of Camfour Inc., a firearms distributorship then based in Springfield. Soon Ferst owned the whole thing and Camfour, which he eventually moved to Westfield, came into its own.

"The first full year I (grossed) $90,000," Ferst said. "I thought that I owned the world."

Camfour's increasing success, Ferst said, brought increasing opportunities to give back to their community.

"The more we gave away the more He gave us," Ferst said.

A story Ferst likes to tell captures his wife's giving spirit early on in their philanthropical career.

A woman's organization had needed some $2,000 to jump-start a worthy cause. Ferst, thinking he'd be a hero to Amelia for being extra generous, proposed that they give $5,000 instead.

"Oh don't be such a tightwad," Ferst said Amelia told him. "Give them $10,000."

The Fersts' first major gift was purchase of the Westfield Sportsman's Club property.

Others soon followed; purchase of the Samaritan Inn homeless property along with a new roof, funding for much of the construction of the Interfaith Chapel at Westfield State College, funding for rooms at Noble Hospital, the Japanese gardens at Stanley Park, three monuments at Parker Memorial Park commemorating fallen soldiers. The list goes on from there.

But the Fersts enjoyed giving on a smaller, more personal scale as well. Like treating the widows of St. John Lutheran Church to birthday flowers and a Christmas dinner each year.

Or, their donation of bicycles and Bibles for migrant tobacco workers in Southwick.

Ferst said he has even tried several times to give away his cane to someone on the street to people who clearly needed it more. To date, however, none have accepted, Ferst said with a smile.

Just how much have the Ferst family given away for the betterment of the city? There is no public tally but it's likely $10 million or more, his many friends and beneficiaries say.

Ferst seems a bit bemused by talk of his money. "I am not as rich as people think," he said. "We have given more money away than we have kept for our children."

Ferst said he plans to - and needs to - continue giving as long as he is able.

"If I didn't I'd be in bad shape," he said.

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