The Givers: Prolific Philanthropists in Coral Gables

Coral Gables, with its close-knit circles of neighbors and families, is a city built on community. Which is why it’s no surprise that such a high percentage of Gableites are philanthropists, in one way or another. Some donate their time to worthy causes, while others make financial contributions to nonprofits. These givers have myriad goals and are involved with a wide variety of charities, focusing on everything from music and education to animals and human rights, among others.

Many of the city’s philanthropists work with the Coral Gables Community Foundation, which makes it easy to give back, not just locally, but all over the world, through their ability to create and manage charitable trusts. Others make donations on their own. Some devote themselves to physical involvement, joining in with other volunteers for community projects ranging from downtown cleanups to restoring native hammocks. Some have a laser focus on one cause, and some are on so many boards of so many charities that it’s hard to keep count. But every gift is worthy, especially in a city that takes so much pride in its sense of selfless giving back.

Each year, we feature a selection of residents who have pushed the envelope when it comes to philanthropy, taking from their passions and personal experiences and channeling their energies into making a better world. Each year, we are inspired by them. We hope you are too!

Dr. Nilza Kallos

Education, Women’s Health

“I was just a doctor. But now, I am a human being…”

Originally from Brazil, Dr. Nilza Kallos was 20 when she came to the U.S., where her husband worked at a hospital in Philadelphia. Despite language barriers and a young baby, Dr. Kallos graduated from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine. Ultrasound was a new technology at the time, but the young Dr. Kallos saw its potential. In 1978, when her best friend passed from breast cancer, Kallos began to think of how she could use it.

“[Her] mortality hit me tremendously. There was nothing, no outreach. The radiology resident didn’t have any training in mammography. The medical school library books were all outdated. The bookstore had no books on breast cancer. I decided to change this.”

In 1981, she started the first multimodality breast cancer center in Florida. Now retired in Coral Gables, Dr. Kallos spends most days focused on a different type of giving back. “When I was working, I was working so intensely that I didn’t have time to do anything,” she explains. “I was just a doctor. But now, I am a human being — plus, still a doctor.”

Kallos is on the board of GableStage and works closely with the Coral Gables Community Foundation, focusing on education for disenfranchised young people. “I had angels that helped me get into Penn medical school. Now, I want to be an angel for some kids, to help change their lives,” she says.

She volunteers as an associate professor at University of Miami to teach students “the art of medicine” and compassion and has plans to get involved with Planned Parenthood. As a doctor working with women, she has horror stories of at-home abortions gone wrong or scared young women with unwanted pregnancies. “It’s not politics,” she says. “If we don’t do this, we’re going to have children that grow without having support or money. We have to think about the future.” 

Philanthropists

Jack Firestone

Music

“If you have faith in the organization and its goals, allow them to use the money where it’s most important to them.”

When most people start their charitable giving journeys, they look to already-established organizations to support. But music-lover Jack Firestone believes in getting in on the ground floor.

The founding partner of Firestone Capital Management, he’s also one of the founders of the Miami Music Project, which brings music to underserved children through classes, summer camps, and other events. “That’s what I’m most proud of,” says Firestone. “It’s now in its fifteenth season.”

He’s also the founding vice president of the National Committee for Symphony Orchestra Support.

Beyond that, Firestone has served or still serves on boards for the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra, City Theatre, the Seattle Opera, and the League of American Orchestras. He’s been CEO of the Albany Symphony Orchestra, the Louisville Orchestra, the Florida Philharmonic, and PACE Concerts. He’s currently a patron of the Houston Grand Opera.

Firestone is constantly traveling for his passion, spending weekends in Seattle or Houston for the operas there, and even traveling overseas to places like Lisbon and Strasbourg. When asked why he donates so much of his time and money to music, he says simply, “Mahler said it best: ‘When words fail, music speaks.’”

His financial firm is also involved locally in community philanthropy while his entire family of physicians (brother, father, uncle, and grandfather) gives back through scholarships at the University of New Mexico for doctors that go into family medicine.

Despite being so involved and having started several nonprofit organizations himself, Firestone’s advice to new philanthropists is simple: “Give for general operating support. If you have faith in the organization and its goals, allow them to use the money where it’s most important to them.” 

Philanthropists

Sissy DeMaria-Koehne & Dr. Guenther Koehne

Equine Therapy

“If you’re a child in a wheelchair, the first time when you’re on a horse, you’re actually walking…”

For the Koehnes, philanthropy is a family affair. All three of Sissy and Guenther’s daughters are involved in giving: Stephanie works with ICU baby, a nonprofit that supports families with babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU); Stephanie Rosado has created a family foundation; and Michele “Cozy” Salazar is involved with the Coral Gables Community Foundation, this year hosting the organization’s annual Tour of Kitchens event, which benefits students at Coral Gables High School.

But it’s Sissy DeMaria-Koehne who is the driving force dedicated to giving.

Ten years ago, she started Give Back for Special Equestrians, a nonprofit that provides disabled children and veterans with access to horseback riding and equine therapy. “I’ve been a lifelong horse lover,” DeMaria-Koehne explains. “I was horseback riding one day with one of my co-founders and we were both saying, ‘Gosh, aren’t we so blessed? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just find a way to pay it forward to people who could really benefit from this?’ That’s how it started.”

Through Give Back, children as young as five are offered the unique experience of walking if they are in a wheelchair or provided with emotional support through bonding with the animals. “If you’re a child in a wheelchair, the first time when you’re on a horse, you’re actually walking. Instead of looking up at people, you’re looking down at people. It helps with balance, hand-eye coordination, confidence, spatial awareness…. It just gives them a real sense of freedom and joy,” says DeMaria-Koehne.

The organization has now expanded to national events with corporate sponsors like Rolls Royce, and DeMaria-Koehne has put equine therapy — a concept once embraced by the Ancient Greeks — back on the map. Sissy also hosts the Community Foundation’s annual gala in support of community programs while Dr. Guenther is a renowned oncologist who has devoted his life to saving others. 

Lee Caplin

Higher Education

“We work together to be as creative as possible and generate courses and opportunities for the students…”

Filmmaker Lee Caplin has been producing movies and television for 35 years, including his 2001 film “Ali” with Will Smith, and “True Detective” on HBO. He’s also a Coral Gables resident and dedicated philanthropist focusing on Florida International University.

Despite Caplin’s career in film, he calls journalism “the most critical and important area of endeavor in today’s sociopolitical world. “That’s why he gifted FIU’s Lee Caplin School of Journalism & Media the largest donation ever to journalism in Florida, earning him naming rights. “I made a special effort toward FIU [because] of it being the most inclusive university in the United States at 84 percent people of color,” he says.

Caplin’s philanthropic journey started long ago with donations to California State University in Monterey Bay, where he keeps a home. He started the film and television program there in the ‘90s. His book “The Business of Art,” a guide to doing business as an artist, is a textbook at FIU and at New York University. At FIU, the first thing Caplin built was a virtual reality studio on the Biscayne Bay campus called iSTAR (Immersive Studio for Altered Reality), which includes classrooms, computer rooms, faculty offices, and a theater. He later built another studio on the ground floor of the Green Library in the main Modesto A. Maidique Miami-Dade campus.

It was seven years ago, when Caplin moved to the Gables, that Steven J. Green (of the eponymous Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs at FIU) first spoke to him about donating. Now, he contributes not only financially but physically. “A lot of people give money and then just sit back,” he says. “But [being involved] makes it fun for me. We work together to be as creative as possible and generate courses and opportunities for the students.” As for his philosophy of giving, he says, “You have to love the area you target for your philanthropy.” 

Philanthropists

Claudia Holliman

Animals, Civil & Human Rights

“The ACLU believes in everybody’s civil rights. A lot of people don’t understand that until they get in a situation where their rights are infringed on.”

Claudia Holliman’s giving is an effort that has spanned four decades. An Oklahoma native, the Morgan Stanley senior VP first moved to Coral Gables just two years ago, where she began working with the Coral Gables Community Foundation.

Prior to that, she had dedicated much of her life to working with a similar organization in her hometown and with the Oklahoma City Zoo. “I was a big volunteer [there],” Holliman says. “And I supported a lot of their charitable work.” She was also a mentor to the president of the Oklahoma Zoological Society. Her love of animals still runs deep, and she is now involved with Zoo Miami.

Her other favorite organization to give to is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). “The ACLU believes in everybody’s civil rights. A lot of people don’t understand that until they get in a situation where their rights [are infringed on],” she says. “I’m just passionate about freedom and about this country.”

The roots for Holliman’s charitable giving go back to the ‘80s, when she and her husband started making six-figure donations to the Oklahoma City Community Foundation to support local charities. In the same decade, they adopted their son from Nepal, which led to a long history of philanthropy as well. Holliman currently helps fund the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Group, which raises orphans in family-style homes.

The CGCF has also benefited from Holliman’s recent move to the Gables. “Historically, I’ve given to the general fund,” she says, “but now I’m establishing my own fund. At the end of every year, I can delegate to several different groups. It’s a community. And I think the way you constructively grow a community is to help everybody get ahead.” 

David Olazabal

Education

“It’s grown significantly. we went from like twenty thousand dollars then forty thousand dollars to half a million dollars a year in scholarships. It’s been fantastic.”

“If I can help some kids, some family, those four years in college will make a huge difference,” says David Olazabal. Speaking extensively on his passion for education, the co-chair of the Coral Gables Community Foundation’s Community Giving Committee details a litany of projects he’s been involved with in the educational sphere of philanthropy.

“At Coral Gables High School, we do all sorts of things. We’ve helped the football program with putting together packages to share with college coaches to see if they can get an opportunity at the next level. We help with college guidance counseling. We help them get suits for college interviews.”

That’s not even mentioning the CGCF’s robust scholarship program for graduating seniors at Gables High. “It’s grown significantly,” says Olazabal. “We went from like twenty thousand dollars then forty thousand dollars to half a million dollars a year in scholarships. It’s been fantastic.”

At Frances S. Tucker Elementary School, they’ve supplied laptops. At Gables Elementary, they’re provided equipment and shade structures. Personally, on his own, Olazabal has donated both time and money to his alma mater, Georgetown University, where he serves on the College Advisory Board.

“That’s a place that made a big difference in my life,” he says, explaining why he set up an annual scholarship fund there some 20 years ago. He describes his role mainly as “a sounding board for ideas,” listening to students to find out “what they need to change and what works for them.”

The biggest question he wants answered: “Can we make a difference?” Our question is, “Is there any doubt?”