*Publisher’s Note: Ann Sakowitz passed away in late January, 2010. She was a Houston institution and is greatly missed. Her legacy lives on through her remarkable family and friends.
Ann Baum Sakowitz was born in San Antonio, the youngest of six siblings, to Victor and Sarah Rosenman Baum. Widow of the legendary Bernard Sakowitz, Ann was a Vice President of Sakowitz, a high-fashion specialty store chain headquartered in Houston for over eighty-eight years. She traveled all over the world with Bernard, making friends and finding resources to assist the store’s buyers select choices she knew her Houston friends would want.
In many other ways, Ann has been committed to serving Houston. Forty-four years ago, she was a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Performing Arts (SPA), served as Vice President and then President from 1969 to 1978, and remains a continuing member of the Executive Committee and Board of Directors. She was a Trustee of the Moores School of Music Society at University of Houston and active in numerous other arts organizations, including the Alley Theatre, Houston Ballet and the Chamber of Commerce’s Houston Festival as a charter member. Ann has been honored by the Houston Shakespeare Society in 2006, The Moores School of Music and SPA. She has been named a CCFA Woman of Distinction and one of the Houston Chronicle’s Best Dressed Women of Houston.
A passion for advancing medical arts propelled Ann to support the University of Texas Health Science Center, The Houston Center for Hearing and Speech, The Red Cross, Council for the Prevention of Blindness and Cancer Fighters. Her interest in people, civic affairs and other cultures led her to participation on the Boards of the YWCA, where she was Chairman of the Public Relations Committee for four years, a member of the Budget Committee for the United Fund, a member of the Japan-America Society of Houston, the Houston Pan-America Society, the International Institute of Education and co-founding Governor of The Forum Club.
Ann has two children, Lynn Sakowitz Wyatt and Robert T. Sakowitz, eight grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. She is an avid weekend gardener at the family’s Thunderbird Ranch, attends to social obligations during the week and enchants friends with jokes, tales and advice. She plays poker monthly with long-standing friends.