Samson Schames (1898-1967): Family and Friends
Conversation with Natalie Green Giles, James McCaffrey and Charlie Scheidt.
Moderated by William Weitzer

Image above: Samson Schames, Blowing the Shofar, c. 1956. Shards of glass, polychrome, layered in relief, 25.4 x 29.7 in. (64.5 x 75.5 cm). Jewish Museum Frankfurt

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Natalie Green Giles is a descendant of the Schames family, whose roots in Frankfurt, Germany trace back to the 15th century Judengasse.  Her great-great grandfather, Ludwig Schames, was a prominent Frankfurt art gallery owner who nurtured the successful careers of German Expressionist artists Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Max Beckmann, among others.  Her grandparents fled Frankfurt in 1938 and settled in New York City, where her mother became the first American born family member in 1940.  Professionally, Natalie spent decades working in New York City public school advocacy, policy, and oversight, including serving as a mayoral appointee to the city’s Board of Education, which oversees the system of nearly one million public school students.  She continues to advocate for and support New York City public higher education through her service on the Foundation board of CUNY’s School for Professional Studies.  She is a graduate of Stuyvesant High School, Williams College, and the Yale School of Management.

James McCaffrey grew up in Forest Hills, NY, the son of Catherine O’Neill McCaffrey.  It is through his late mother’s love of Samson Schames’ work that he is the beneficiary of a large collection of Samson’s art.  Through everyday life in Forest Hills, Catherine met and became friends with Edith and Samson.  As a child, James would play with his friend, Demitri, who lived next door to Samson’s studio, and they would run through the studio with Samson looking on in quiet amusement.  Over the years, Catherine and Edith became very close and during that time Catherine purchased a number of paintings which she cherished up to her passing in 2012.  James shares his mother’s love of Samson’s works, and they are displayed throughout his home on Long Island.  Following a career in civil service, James is retired and spends his time collecting off-beat vinyl records and continuing to explore the complexities of the bass guitar.

Charlie Scheidt, the son of German-Jewish refugees, grew up in a close-knit immigrant community in New York City. For over four decades, he served as the CEO of Roland Foods, growing the business his parents had founded when they arrived in the US in 1939 into the leading specialty food importer. Charlie now dedicates his time to refugee support and genocide prevention and serves on the board of the Leo Baeck Institute. Charlie’s father was a childhood friend of Samson Schames in Germany. They stayed in touch and reconnected when Samson and Edith arrived in New York.  Samson and Edith were good friends of the Scheidt family, often guests for Shabbat dinner while Charlie was growing up.

William (Billy) Weitzer spent a decade until his retirement in 2022 as the Executive Director of the Leo Baeck Institute-New York/Berlin, a research library and archive dedicated to preserving and promoting the history of German Jewry. Billy continues to work on projects focusing on reaching new audiences at LBI, including the creation of an exhibition on the art and life of Samson Schames opening in September, 2025 at the Center for Jewish History. After earning his Ph.D. in environmental psychology, Billy spent much of his career working in higher education at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Wesleyan University, and Fairfield University.