Joseph Vilcha Fund

In 2014 Joseph Vilcha (Juozas Vilciauskas) left a substantial $15.5 million bequest to the Lithuanian Foundation. This is the largest bequest that the Lithuanian Foundation has ever received. In donating this money, the benefactor specified that the Lithuanian Foundation is to create

a special fund in the name of Joseph Vilcha, to provide financial support for the preservation of Lithuanian heritage, language, and culture in the United States of America.

Joseph Vilcha (Juozas Vilciauskas)
(Photo:LF archive)

Joseph Vilcha was born Mar 3, 1923 in Joniskis , Lithuania, to the family of Juzefa and Pranas Vilciauskas. After completing high-school in 1939, Joseph Vilcha went to Kaunas, there began to study engineering at the Vytautas Magnus University. As with many of the Lithuanian students at that time, Mr. Vilcha was not able complete all of his courses. With the USSR army advancing, Joseph Vilcha was forced to leave his homeland. He settled near Hamburg Germany. At the Baltic University (an Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian institution of higher learning in Hamburg / Pinneberg) he studied Civil Engineering.

 In 1949 he settled in the US and worked for a small civil engineering company. Besides his regular job, he developed an interest in trading securities. Successful investments and some luck helped him amass a significant amount of capital.

 For a long time Joseph Vilcha was interested in the Lithuanian Foundation and how it was managed, operated and its organizational capabilities; he eventually donated a large portion of his wealth to this organization. In leaving his bequest to the Lithuanian Foundation, he was assured of the continual support of the Lithuanian language culture and heritage.    

LF information.