Centenarian’s Legacy Helps
Older Adults
Gilbert H. Cullen lived a long and purposeful life for 100 years. His quiet demeanor belied a man who packed a lot of living and love into his life. His generosity of spirit led him to make a gift during his lifetime supplemented with a bequest to create an endowment fund dedicated to his late wife, Betsie.
The Dr. Gilbert H. and Betsie Cullen Family Endowment Fund will forever support Baltimore’s older, financially fragile Jewish population. He wanted the emphasis to be on providing food for homebound seniors. The gift will be administered through AgeWell Baltimore, an initiative of The Associated, which coordinates services for older adults, families and caregivers across Associated agencies CHAI, CHANA and Jewish Community Services.
“We always had a pushka,” Gil said of the family’s tzedakah box. “We were Jewish. If you’re Jewish, you give.”
Gil saw action in the Pacific during World War II, serving as a lieutenant on a Navy destroyer for three and a half years, and earning six Battle Stars. “I traveled all over the world…from Russia to Australia.”
Gil grew up in Hampden and Walbrook, and graduated from Baltimore City College, University of Maryland College Park and UM Baltimore School of Dentistry. He met Betsie Kitzes on the clay courts at Druid Hill Park. They married in 1950 and had two children, Peggy and Michael.
If you have enough to take care of yourself, you can help those who haven’t had the chances you had. As a Jew, you help other Jews as best you can.”
Gil practiced dentistry in Parkville for over 25 years. In the 1960s, he started a travel business and bought Merritt Savings & Loan. After selling the savings and loan and his travel businesses many years later, he and Betsie traveled and split their time between Boca Raton, Florida and Baltimore. In 2015, they returned full-time to Baltimore, moving into North Oaks in Pikesville. Betsie died in 2017.
A savvy investor, Gil was proud to give back to his community. Shortly before his 100th birthday in April, he reflected: “If you have enough to take care of yourself, you can help those who haven’t had the chances you had. As a Jew, you help other Jews as best you can.” Gilbert H. and Betsie Cullen will forever be memorialized through this incredible gift to The Associated’s Centennial Campaign.
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