Settlement Over WWII Crime Funds Needed Gym

As a teenager growing up in Nazi Germany, George Gregory was prohibited by the Nuremberg laws from participating in sports with other children his age because he was Jewish.

Two generations and a continent removed from that dark time, Gregory along with his wife Gerry, their children and grandchildren looked on as the gym bearing his name was dedicated in front of more than a thousand people in West Hills on Sunday.

The new facility was financed by Gregory’s $268,000 donation to the Jewish Federation. The 82-year-old received the sum in a recent settlement with a company that seized control of his father’s flourishing German metal business when the Nazis came to power in the 1930s.

“I felt a number of things,” Gregory said after the ceremony. “Closure, as far as my dad is concerned. And for my grandchildren a legacy: to understand the trials and tribulations we endured during the period of Hitler.”

Part of the Ferne Milken Youth and Sports Complex, the 12,000-square-foot gymnasium is complete with a hardwood floor, half a dozen glass backboards and a scoreboard. It sits alongside a new teen center, multipurpose fitness room and a permanent exhibit that houses the Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

The complex makes up the Bernard Milken Jewish Community Center campus, which was built in 1987, and has been funded by the Jewish Federation and donors such as the Santa Monica-based Milken Family Foundation.

“It’s something very special. This is where our roots are,” said Lowell Milken, chairman and co-founder of the Milken foundation, whose family settled in the San Fernando Valley in 1954.

Like other speakers at the dedication, Milken told the crowd of the importance of community and the need for a children’s haven in an era where supervision has become a parental mantra.

Milken said he and his brother Michael grew up in the Valley when an empty parking lot near orange groves was the only facility kids needed to play basketball, baseball and touch football.

Those themes were echoed by other community and political leaders in attendance, including California first lady Sharon Davis, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks) and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Laura Chick.

Also at the event were sport luminaries John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach, Dodger executive Tommy Lasorda, National Football League Hall of Fame member Ron Mix, world-class swimmer Lanny Krayzelburg, U.S. World Cup soccer team member Alexi Lalas and Shawn Green, the Dodger’s star outfielder.

“We are constantly talking about cliches about community,” said H. Jack Mayer, executive director of the Jewish Federation Valley Alliance. “But this allows people to really generate a real sense of participation by coming together on a regular and consistent way.”

After the ceremony, hundreds of people poured into the gym and other areas of the Milken campus, some for the first time. Others were excited about the additional facilities.

“It was pretty cool,” said 13-year-old Kari Kagan of Calabasas, who attended the event with her mother and brother.

“It’s great,” added 11-year-old Samantha Hyman of Hidden Hills, who came with her 13-year-old sister Melissa, mother Sheri, father Steve and grandmother Beverly Sherman. “You can come here to hang out or exercise. “

It’s that family atmosphere Jewish leaders say they are hoping to produce. “It’s really important to create these kind of spaces where the public can gather and enjoy being together,” Mayer said. “This gym is the missing ingredient in this complex, which already houses social services, education and cultural facilities.”