Karen Wolk Feinstein: Chronicle 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award honoree

The Chronicle’s staff and board are delighted to celebrate our inaugural class of 18 Difference Makers, those whose dedication, compassion and commitment to others exemplify the powerful Jewish imperative of tikkun olam — repairing the world.

Difference Makers was created to honor the extraordinary individuals whose passion, dedication and service are strengthening our Jewish community and creating a lasting, meaningful impact throughout southwestern Pennsylvania. Their commitment inspires others, brings people together and helps to shape a stronger, more vibrant community.

Here is a bit about our Lifetime Achievement Award honoree. We find her story inspiring, and hope you will, too.

About 35 years ago, Karen Wolk Feinstein was tapped to create and lead a new entity, launched from the proceeds of the sale of Montefiore Hospital, a healthcare institution established and funded by Pittsburgh’s Jewish community. What she accomplished in the ensuing decades is nothing short of remarkable.

Under Feinstein’s leadership, the Jewish Healthcare Foundation’s reach extended far beyond the local Jewish community, and became a world-renown philanthropic and advocacy group.

Feinstein retired as president and CEO of JHF on July 1.

Feinstein recalled the beginning of her tenure at JHF, when the concept of establishing a local healthcare foundation driven by Jewish values was mostly undefined. She and her team created the JHF “from scratch,” she told the Chronicle.

“I mean, there was nothing,” she said. “No one had a model. It didn’t have a name. It didn’t have offices. We had no idea what it was going to be. And every Jewish person had their own opinion. So I just ignored it and created something that has been very viable.”

The success of the JHF, Feinstein said, is her greatest professional accomplishment, but within the scope of the foundation’s work, there are several areas which she describes as “particularly notable.”

“We’ve been very successful with our women’s health agenda and our senior services agenda,” she said. “I’m also very proud that the foundation and I took a lead in 1991 in being activists for HIV/AIDS, when other foundations would touch it. And the board was totally supportive. Some of our rabbis came forward. It was just a wonderful coming together of the Jewish community and the foundation, and we became well known nationally. We were we were leaders in HIV activism.”

The foundation, under the guidance of Feinstein, also became known globally for its work in patient safety.

What motivates Feinstein to give back so meaningfully to the community?

“I think I was wired that way,” she said. “At the core, I’m a problem solver. When there’s a problem, it really gets me focused and puts me in action.”

She was influenced, she said, by her exposure in the 1960s to civil rights abuses in this country, and she became involved in the war on poverty early in her career.

“I think it was mostly a sense that great steps forward were possible, and that’s what I wanted to do with my life,” she said. “There were so many movements then that I found very worthy, and I do love when people come together with a common goal that I think is good for humanity and helps relieve suffering. When people come together and are active and try and fix something, I get a thrill off of that.”

Here are Feinstein’s responses to the four questions posed by the Chronicle to all our 2026 honorees:

1. How long have you lived in Pittsburgh? Most of my life, except for 16 years in the Boston area.

2. What advice would you give your 16-year-old self? Shoot high. Big aspirations inspire good work. Fear of failure is a harmful emotion.

3. What does tikkun olam mean to you? That my time on Earth should help make life better for people who are suffering.

4. If you could have dinner with one person — living or deceased — who would it be and why? Ronan Bergman. I would like his advice about how Israel restores confidence and understanding within and beyond the Jewish community. PJC