As it advances the vision, The Jewish Community Center (JCC) of St. Louis is also honoring the visionary – St. Louis businessman and philanthropist I.E. Millstone. On Sept. 25, Millstone was presented with a stainless steel “portrait in the round,” created by noted artist Don Wiegand, which will be exhibited in the new cultural and fitness facility taking shape on the JCC Millstone Campus near Creve Coeur. The new facility, which is being named for the Michael Staenberg Family, will debut next spring.

JCC Board Chairman Michael Staenberg joined other JCC supporters in presenting the piece to Millstone at the annual Millstone Society Appreciation gala at Tower Grove Park honoring donors who have given to the JCC’s annual campaign at the leadership level.

In the 1950s, Millstone purchased 122 acres at Lindbergh Boulevard and Schuetz Road and donated it as the home of the new JCC. The organization, founded in 1880 as the Young Men’s Hebrew Association (YMHA) in St. Louis, was originally conceived as a place where Jews could socialize in an era of intolerance. Millstone’s gift was to anticipate the westward migration of the Jewish population and become a catalyst for the planning, zoning, fundraising, and vision behind the JCC campus concept.

The sculpture of Millstone will be displayed in the renovated facilities at JCC Millstone campus, featuring a new facility that includes a fitness center with three swimming pools, weight and exercise rooms, an indoor track, ball fields, two theaters, a caf é and meeting space.

The JCC’s $49 million capital campaign has also funded extensive upgrades to the Marilyn Fox Building in Chesterfield, Mo. and Camp Sabra in Lake of the Ozarks. In addition, it will double the JCC’s endowment to maintain its facilities. A total of $45.3 million has been raised to date in the campaign. The Staenberg family is its largest contributor.

Millstone founded Millstone Construction, Inc. The company helped build such St. Louis landmarks as the Milles Fountain (1940) and the original Busch Stadium (1966). His company, now known as Millstone-Bangert, grew to be a global construction firm building office towers, shopping malls, highways and bridges from the United States to Israel.

At the JCC, Millstone was the youngest person to be elected board chairman (then known as president) in1947 and the only person to hold the office twice. While retired, Millstone remains active as president of K & M Investors and president of the Millstone Charitable Foundation, founded in 1955.