BEAUMONT — Funeral arrangements are pending under the direction of Broussard’s Mortuary for community leader Betty Greenberg. She died peacefully Friday at her home in Beaumont.
Betty helped her husband and family run a chain of successful department stores, The Fair Stores. She raised millions of dollars for many charities and organizations.
The Betty Greenberg Center for the Performing Arts, where Beaumont Community Players holds its plays, is named after her.
Betty Greenberg was 95 years old.
From Broussard’s Mortuary – Betty Greenberg was born Betty Ruth Kaplan in Alexandria, Louisiana. She passed peacefully on Friday, December 1, 2023, at her home in Thomas Park in Beaumont.
Growing up in Alexandria, she was frequently at her father’s side learning the retail business at his department store. Her first taste of the limelight came when, at the age of eight, she won first prize in a talent contest. The award was a Betty Boop doll. She was stage struck from that day forward.
Betty met her love and life partner, Sheldon Greenberg, in Alexandria, Louisiana, while he was serving in the U. S. Army-Air Corps. After a 6-week romance, they were married on February 24, 1946. They moved to Beaumont where Sheldon joined his father and brother in the family business known as the Fair Store. Together, they raised five children and built The Fair Stores into a twenty-eight-store chain. Betty’s strong work ethic, incredible fashion sense and delight in making others feel beautiful made her an invaluable asset to both her husband and the company.
Governor Clement declared Betty an honorary Texas Citizen. Mayor Maurice Meyers issued a proclamation creating Betty Greenberg Day in Beaumont and the Neches River Festival named her the Outstanding Citizen of the Year. She received special recognition from Main Street for her fundraising and commendable support of the restoration of the Jefferson Theatre. Suits of Success, a program supporting young women with donations of business wear named Betty the “Best Dressed Woman” for her mentorship of women in business. She received the prestigious J. C. Creager Award and in February of 1991, she was declared the American Heart Association’s “Woman With Heart.” In June of 2001, Beaumont Mayor, David Moore proclaimed Betty Greenberg Day in Beaumont for the second time.
The fabulous Betty G. was dubbed the “two-million-dollar lady” for the literal millions of dollars she raised for charity and the arts including organizations ranging from the United Way to the Sisterhood at Temple Emanuel and the United Jewish Appeal by which she was recognized for her “great efforts.”. She was a driving force for the good of the community and did extensive fund raising for Lamar University, the March of Dimes, and Boys Haven where she created the organization’s annual fundraiser, the Crawfish Festival. The L. U. annual “Funtier Frolic” which she created and chaired for five years raised over a hundred thousand dollars for the Presidential scholarship fund. She served on the Board of Directors at St. Elizabeth Hospital for more than a decade. Betty served as the Telethon Chairman for the Muscular Dystrophy Association raising the largest amount the organization had received in any year.
Betty was a part of Beaumont Community Players for six decades. A leading lady in the nineteen fifties and sixties, she became an even bigger star as the “fundraiser-in-chief “who worked tirelessly to make the Betty Greenberg Center for Performing Arts, named in her honor, a reality. In, 2018, the players celebrated her ninetieth birthday with “Betty’s Birthday Bash” which was attended by an at capacity crowd. The event included a vintage fashion show featuring her amazing collection of styles worn by several of the models that had appeared in her decades of fashion show presentations.
Betty leaves a legacy of love for her family and friends and the abundant evidence of her generosity and kindness. Her memory is, and will be, a blessing.
Her husband, Sheldon Greenberg, and her sons, Bruce Greenberg and Jeff Greenberg, preceded her in death. Survivors include children, Frank Greenberg and his wife, Jennifer; Sherry Shefman and her husband, Michael, all of Austin; and Marc Greenberg of Beaumont; daughter-in-law, Barbara Brookner, and her husband, Steven, of Beaumont; granddaughter, Jenny Palermo and her husband, Thomas; great-grandchildren, Trey Palermo and Lilly Palermo, all of Houston; niece, Dena Frankfurt, and nephew, Brad Klein of Beaumont.
Services are pending under the direction of Broussard’s, 2000 McFaddin Avenue, Beaumont. 409.832.1621.
