The Jewish Federation has named native St. Louisan and longtime Federation committee member Patty Croughan to chair the agency’s board.

“One of the privileges of being a Jewish leader is having that commitment to the community and a real sense of obligation to give back in ways that advance the needs of the community,” said Croughan, a psychotherapist who works in private practice in Clayton.

The 67-year-old Creve Coeur resident will assume her new duties at the Federation’s annual meeting in September. However, Federation president and CEO Andrew Rehfeld said that she is already in the loop on decisions in preparation for the transition.

“Patty’s a terrific choice. We’re very excited about her coming in,” he said. “She brings a vitality and freshness to it and also experience both in the Federation and the Jewish community.”

Croughan, who will serve a two-year term, began her involvement with the communal umbrella agency as part of the committee on Israel and overseas needs. Later, she moved into budget and finance matters before working with the development side of the organization as co-chair of the annual campaign the last two years.

The grandmother of six has also long been active at Congregation Shaare Emeth and is a former president of the temple. Outside the Jewish community, the Harvard-educated Croughan has served on the MICDS board.

Croughan will take over for Bob Millstone who is completing an eventful two-year stint in the job, which saw the hiring of a new chief executive, the merging of two day schools, a redesign of the allocations process to conform to strategic plan priorities and the stabilization of a flagging annual campaign that stemmed four years of decline.

“Bob’s been a great mentor to me,” said Croughan. “He’s been a tremendous leader in the St. Louis community both in front of the scenes and behind the scenes.”

Millstone is equally complementary, calling his successor an intelligent and articulate leader and an effective listener who brings a creative and thoughtful approach to every issue.

“She’s going to be a phenomenal board chair,” he said. “She comes to the role with a long history of philanthropic involvement, particularly in the Jewish community.”

Rehfeld said that Croughan understands the role of the Federation as a facilitator to help others do great things. He feels she will communicate well to the next generation of local Jews.

“We’re really inspired by her attention to and recognition of the need to engage that generation in Jewish life in St. Louis and building and understanding our collective responsibility to one another as a community in Israel and throughout the world,” Rehfeld said.

Croughan said that getting out the message about the importance of federated giving is indeed a top priority, as is finding ways to connect with younger Jews.

“We have a challenge to inculcate in our children the need for community philanthropy and the importance of giving to the community that has given them so much,” she said. “The next generation is certainly on everyone’s agenda in terms of creative ways to capture their imaginations in the work that we do as a community.”

She said that being ready to leap in during times of trouble is a big part of what the organization does.

“There are a number of challenges – those that we know about and those that we don’t know about,” she said. “One of the important functions of the Federation is to be ready to meet crises as they emerge either internationally as in Israel or the former Soviet Union or locally during the recession when we established the Lifeline Fund. You can’t anticipate the kinds of crises that emerge.”

Other priorities Croughan says are important to her include providing an environment in which older residents can age in place, helping to bring in more money to the campaign and working to make the community more inclusive of interfaith families.

“I think that we don’t do a good enough job yet in reaching our interfaith families and engaging them in a constructive way in the community,” she said. “We do better than we used to do but I think we have lots of strides we could make in that arena.”

She noted that she feels her background in psychotherapy may help with the job as well. 

“I bring to the table a very practiced understanding of human nature and I think that’s very helpful when you are dealing with so many people in the community with such diverse ideas.”

Regardless, she feels ready for the position. “I feel this opportunity is coming to me at a great time in my life,” she said. “My father used to say that when he was in his mid-60s he was just hitting his stride so I’m excited about it.”

Croughan and her husband Jack have five grown children. They expect their seventh grandchild in September.