Ellen Sulzberger Straus

Ellen Sulzberger Straus (March 11, 1925 – February 24, 1995) was an American businesswoman and philanthropist who founded the United States' first telephone help line.

Biography Ellen Sulzberger Straus was born to a Jewish family in Manhattan in 1925, the daughter of Louise Mayer Blumenthal and David Hays Sulzberger. Her uncle was The New York Times publisher Arthur Hays Sulzberger and her grandfather was the German-born merchant Cyrus Leopold Sulzberger. She had two sisters: Jean Sulzberger and Ann Sulzberger Sand. They had four children: Diane Straus Tucker; Katherine Straus Caple (married to Blair Charles Caple); Jeanne Straus Tofel (divorced from Richard Tofel); and Eric Straus (divorced from Elisabeth Natalie Sand). She died of cancer on February 24, 1995, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan.