Gay, Joseph

Elisabeth Feitler was born in Vienna, Austria, on December 16, 1916, the only child of Paul Feitler and Loni Feitler née Rosenbaum. Paul Feitler was the honorary consul of Colombia in Austria. Elisabeth grew up in the Stubenviertel in Austria's first district ( Bezirk ), and the family moved to Schwarzenbergplatz in the mid-1930s. She studied acting at the Staatsakademie für darstellende Kunst in Vienna from 1933-1936. The Feitlers fled to Switzerland in May 1938 using funds saved by Loni Feitler. While in Switzerland Elisabeth's mother Loni became ill and the family remained in Switzerland until they emigrated to New York in 1939.

On June 23, 1908 Joseph Gleicher was born in Vienna, the son of Jacob and Gisella née Schönfelt. He had three older sisters: Gusti, Annie, and Rosl. Gleicher studied international law and economics at the universities of Vienna, Brussels, and Paris. While studying he was employed by several companies and by the early 1930s he was working as a secretary for Paul Feitler, the Colombian Consul in Austria. Later he was promoted to Vice Consul and eventually went to work in Colombia, where he founded his own company, FOMAG, together with Fritz Friedmann. While working for Paul Feitler he became friendly with the Consul's family members, and often corresponded with Elisabeth while working in Colombia.

After the Feitlers had moved to New York, Joseph Gleicher began visiting them, and on June 26, 1940 he married Elisabeth. He started working for an import and export firm, but had to leave because he was called up for military service. From January 1943 until November 1944 he served in the U.S. Army, working with the Office of Strategic Services. When he became a U.S. citizen in April 1943, Joseph Gleicher changed his family name to Gay. After being honorably discharged from the service because of an injury, Joseph Gay established his own import firm, J. Gay Associates. He also became involved in the importation of English wool, textiles, and other commodities to several South American countries. He spent large amounts of time in South America on business trips. In 1959 the family moved to Venezuela, where Joseph Gay helped found the department store VAM. While living there, Elisabeth Gay acted and directed at the American Theater Institute, where she also became a member of the Theater's board. From 1963 until 1967 the family lived in Madrid, Spain, where Joseph Gay wrote a feasibility study to found a French department store there. Elisabeth taught for the Spanish Youth League, including organizing games for underprivileged children.

Joseph and Elisabeth Gay's first child, Cathy, was born while Joseph was serving in the army. They would later have two more children, James (later Paul Mareth) in 1945 and Jill in 1951.

By the 1970s Joseph Gay was in semi-retirement and worked as an unpaid treasurer and board member for the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential, a non-profit agency dedicated to brain-damaged children. It was during the 1970s that Elisabeth Gay decided to return to school, and in 1974 she received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Sarah Lawrence College, followed by a Master's degree in Fine Arts in 1977 from the same institution.

During the 1980s Joseph Gay worked as an international economic consultant for Wright Investors' Service in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he helped to establish business connections between various European countries and the United States. Elisabeth Gay pursued her Ph.D. in educational theater, and received the degree in 1986 from New York University after writing a dissertation on drama therapy.

Joseph Gay died in 1994; Elisabeth Gay died in 2003.

From the guide to the Elisabeth F. Gay and Joseph Gay Family Collection, 1849-2003, bulk 1935-1975, (Leo Baeck Institute)