Dejana Foundation bolsters its giving, including $1M to Port Washington Fire Dept.

A Port Washington charitable foundation is boosting its annual grant making in 2026 to $26 million as its assets have increased since the death of one of its founders, the organization announced Monday.

The Peter and Jeri Dejana Foundation began in 2024 with $33.6 million in assets, according to its 2024 tax return. Peter Dejana died May 2, 2024, at age 84. The foundation received a contribution of $301.2 million that year, and by the end of the year, its total assets had grown to a fair market value of $398.6 million, according to tax returns available on the candid.org website, which publishes returns of tax-exempt organizations.

Dejana founded Dejana Industries Inc. and Aero Snow Removal Corp.

Over the past year, more money has been moving from his estate into the foundation, and its annual grant awards are growing from $7.9 million awarded last year to $26 million this year, according to the foundation and its officers.

“Over the next years, we’ll be giving away over $100 million,” said April Schweber, a director and chief operating officer at the foundation and Dejana family member.

IRS rules require that private, nonoperating foundations must annually distribute 5% of their assets based on a formula or face tax penalties. The foundation did not disclose Monday how much money was moved into its accounts in 2025. 

At a news conference at the Port Washington firehouse Monday, organizations that have received funds from the foundation over the years gave thanks for the support.

Chris Bollerman, treasurer and former chief of the Port Washington Fire Department, said the foundation in January awarded the department $1 million to build a fire training facility in the community.

“It is a training building, multiple floors, all different scenarios ... ,” Bollerman said. “We'll be able to repel from the roof. We'll be able to rescue individuals from smoke-filled rooms.”

Right now the department trains at a facility in Bethpage, but having one locally means that firefighters will be in the area if a fire breaks out during a training session, Bollerman said.

Their relationship with Peter and the foundation goes back 10 years, Bollerman said, when he gave a presentation asking for financial help for equipment.

“Since then, they've purchased all the defibrillators that we have in Port Washington and saved countless lives,” Bollerman said.

Rabbi Shalom M. Paltiel of the Chabad of Port Washington said in an interview that the foundation has been giving it grants of $25,000 for years to sponsor its annual Hanukkah event.

“We get over a thousand people at the waterfront,” Paltiel said. “We have fireworks. It's a whole giant community event … Peter liked that concept.”

Paltiel said the foundation is now helping to pay for a $5 million expansion of its facility, which includes a gymnasium that will serve the greater community.

“This is a testament to the message of give life, give love, give joy,” Paltiel said. “Peter loved to do it.”

Most of the grants awarded by the foundation through an application process go to Long Island organizations, with more than half being in the Port Washington area, according to the foundation.

Dejana’s widow, Geraldine “Jeri” Dejana, is now leading the organization. She said in an interview she wants to help veterans — because her father was a paratrooper in World War II — as well as the medical community, senior citizens, animals and children.

“Anybody that we can help, we're there,” Dejana said. 

Dejana said her late husband came to the United States as a teenager from Sardinia, Italy, in the 1950s without knowing English. As a high school student he was bullied, Dejana said. “When all the kids were going out of school, playing basketball and whatever, he was working with the landscapers,” she said. 

He went on to live the American dream, founding several successful companies.

"Peter came as a young boy with nothing, except the shirt on his back,” Schweber said. “He built an empire with a lot of hard work, dedication, and he just wanted to give back to the community.”