Photo by: Daniel D’Ottavio

OBL 2025 Honorary Chair

Audrey Gruss

Audrey Gruss is President of the Audrey and Martin Gruss Foundation, which supports charitable activities in the cultural arts, education and medical research. Gruss brings the skills of her executive experience in the fields of international marketing and advertising to the non-profit arena. She was the former Co-owner and President of Terme di Saturnia, Inc., an international scientific skincare firm, and held executive positions at J.P. Stevens and Elizabeth Arden, as Director of Advertising and Creative Services Worldwide.

Gruss is Founder and Chairman of the Hope for Depression Research Foundation (HDRF), which she established in 2006 in memory of her late mother Hope, to fund pioneering neuroscience research into the origins, new treatments and prevention of depression and its related mood disorders. She graduated with honors from Tufts University with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology. A Fellow of Tufts University, she established the Audrey Butvay Gruss Science Award for women. Gruss was named as one of America’s Most Influential People for 2020 by Marquis Who’s Who.

In Palm Beach, Gruss received the 1998 Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce Charitable Achievement Award. She was Chairman of the 2000 Bicentennial Gala of the Norton Museum of Art, a three-time Chairman of the Preservation Foundation Gala, and Co-Chairman of annual fundraising benefits for St. Mary’s/Good Samaritan Hospital, the Hospice Foundation and the Community Foundation. She is a Board member of the Hospice Foundation, the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach, and the Norton Museum of Art, where she is Co-Chair of this year’s Gala. She is a Founding member of the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. She was honored by Palm Beach Atlantic University in Florida as a 2019 “Woman of Distinction.”

Audrey Gruss’ philanthropic efforts have a U.S. and international dimension. In New York, she is the longest-standing female Board member of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and on Patron Councils of cultural organizations and museums, such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. The Audrey & Martin Gruss Foundation is a Benefactor of the Weill Greenberg Medical Center at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. It is also the key sponsor of the Audrey & Martin Gruss Heart & Stroke Center at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital in Southampton, NY.

Internationally, Audrey is a Lifetime member of the Royal Horticultural Society in England. She is a Board member of the Victoria & Albert Museum Americas Foundation.

26th Annual Old Bags Luncheon®

Old Bags Luncheon® is the Center for Family Services of Palm Beach County’s signature fundraising event.

Our premier event is once again at The Breakers Palm Beach. Palm Beach Daily News recognized OBL as one of the top five Palm Beach social events of the season. The luncheon boasts an extraordinary silent auction offering a wide selection of new or gently used authentic designer handbags, a beautiful lunch served in one of The Breakers’ oceanfront ballrooms and a celebrity speaker.

Past event sponsors include Saks Fifth Avenue, YVEL, Tiffany & Co. and Palm Beach Media Group. Would you like to be a partner of our signature event? Could your company benefit from exposure to our guest list? Consider a sponsorship with the Center for Family Services by supporting the Old Bags Luncheon.

For information about this event, please contact Ellen Vaughan, Chief Development Officer at evaughan@ctrfam.org

Sponsorship Opportunities Are Available

Follow Us

Skip to content