Leo and Anne Marie Grebler Family Collection

Anne Marie Grebler née Gerson was born November 15, 1901, in Hamm, Germany, to Emil Gerson (April 2, 1867-May 14, 1952) and Elsa Gerson née Fehr (January 13, 1870-February 9, 1950). She married Leo Grebler in Berlin on May 1, 1927. Anne Marie was trained as a social worker in Berlin, where she worked in the profession from 1925 through 1927. Her first position in the United States was as a psychiatric social worker at the Jewish Social Service Agency in Washington, D.C. In 1942, Anne Marie joined the staff of the Family Service Association of Washington as a senior caseworker, a position she held until 1945. She received a Master of Science in education, majoring in psychology, from the City College of New York in 1952. From 1955 until 1958, she worked as a school psychologist at the National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C. From 1962 to 1963, she was employed as a Senior Psychometrist at the UCLA Extension’s Counseling and Testing Services Center. She continued at UCLA as an educational therapist at the university’s Fernald School from 1964 till 1971; thereafter, she worked as an educational therapist in private practice. Anne Marie Grebler died May 30, 1993.

Leo Grebler was born in Berlin on April 25, 1900, to Abraham Grebler (December 12, 1867-January 15, 1935) and Sara Grebler née Margulies (1871-November 29, 1925). He earned his doctorate in economics from the University of Giessen in 1926 with a dissertation entitled Das volkswirtschaftliche Problem der industriellen Absatzorganisation. Immediately thereafter, he worked in real estate for two years in the employ of Deutsche Grundbesitz AG. From 1931 until 1935 he was employed by the Frankfurter Zeitung as part of their commercial editorial staff; he held a similar position with Magazin der Wirtschaft from 1928-1931. Leo and his wife Anne Marie emigrated from Geneva in July 1937, settling in Washington, D.C. Leo was first employed by the Federal Home Loan Bank Board (1938-1944), then the National Housing Agency. In 1948, he was appointed as research professor in urban land use and housing at Columbia University, a position that he held until 1955. In 1958, he was appointed professor of real estate and urban land economics in the Graduate School of Business Administration at University of California, Los Angeles. Leo Grebler died on April 2, 1991.

Leo and Anne Marie’s daughter Jean Helen was born on October 24, 1945. Jean and her husband Donald Quataert have one son, Eliot.