1,100 Kids Have Holiday Fun At Kaner Foundation Party

Some 1,100 children left Terrace on the Park with "a toy, a full stomach and a hug from Santa" as Borough President Helen Marshall once put it, after the 2006 Walter Kaner Children's Foundation annual holiday party Tuesday, November 21. The party for physically and mentally challenged and economically disadvantaged children in New York was a longstanding tradition and the second to take place after Kaner's death in June 2005. Marshall made her comment in a statement issued shortly after Kaner died.

Kaner founded the Walter Kaner Children's Foundation in 1950 out of a deep love for children and a delight in making them laugh and improving their lives. In the 56 years of its existence, the organization has enhanced the lives of more than 250,000 children in the New York metropolitan area. Besides establishing and supporting the foundation that bears his name, Kaner served on the boards of and supported numerous children's organizations. His wife, Billie Elliot Kaner, worked with him in fostering the work of the foundation. They were married for 50 years; she died in September 2004.

Kaner was a columnist for the Long Island Press, the Daily News, the Queens Gazette and numerous publications for more than 50 years. During and after World War II, Kaner produced and starred in a show on U.S. Army radio that refuted propaganda broadcasts by Tokyo Rose intended to erode American solders' morale. According to a 1946 column by society chronicler Elsa Maxwell, Kaner was "the breath of home to unknown thousands of our young men when they were lonely".