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Elaine Grossinger Etess, third-generation owner of legendary Catskills resort, dies at 98

JL;DR SUMMARY Elaine Grossinger Etess, the last surviving member of the family who established the iconic Grossingers Catskill Resort Hotel, has passed away at 98. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish HistoryJewish CommunitiesBorscht BeltHospitality IndustryCatskillsJackie RobinsonJewish EntertainersGrossingers Catskill ResortElaine Grossinger EtessAmerican Hotel And Motel Association

Places mentioned

Florida, United States
"Etess, who died at her home in Florida, was the daughter of Jennie and Harry Grossinger, the couple who grew the resort from a small boarding house to a 35-building, 600-room luxury complex."
Sullivan County, New York, United States
"He added, She said the hotel guests, nearly all Jewish and many who had escaped Europe, were open to Jackie and Rachel because of the bigotry and the horrors of hatred they had experienced in their own lives. When Jennie Grossinger, the heart and soul of Grossingers, died in 1972, Etess took over as hostess."

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This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 74415
Cairo Source ID 42
Retrieved 2026-02-03 05:30:48 UTC
Curated 2026-02-03 08:30:42 UTC