2,000 Pay Respects At Myra Kraft Funeral In Newton
NEWTON (CBS/AP) -- Myra Kraft touched thousands of lives with her involvement in a host of Boston-area charities, and many of those people attended her funeral service Friday.
About 2,000 people came to Temple Emmanuel in Newton to pay their final respects to the wife of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft.
Among them were Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and head coach Bill Belichick, and several players including Danny Woodhead, Patrick Chung, Dan Koeppen, and Jerod Mayo.
WBZ-TV's Bill Shields reports
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell headed a list of others paying their respects, including NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, former Cowboys and Miami Dolphins coach Jimmy Johnson, former Patriots Richard Seymour, Tedy Bruschi and Andre Tippet. Gov. Deval Patrick, Mayor Tom Menino and Donald Trump were also there.
Myra Kraft died of cancer on Wednesday. She was 68.
Kraft was familiar to football fans sitting next to her husband in the Patriots owner's box.
But behind the scenes she was an active and powerful force in her family's foundation and served on the boards of varied community and charitable organizations.
She managed the Robert and Myra Kraft Family Foundation and was president of the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation, which contributed millions of dollars to charities.
Former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue attended Friday's service and remembered a trip to Israel with the Krafts.
"Myra was such an inspiration over there and as Jonathan (Kraft) and the other kids said, not just in Israel, not just in the United States, but in South Africa and other parts of the world."
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Mark Katic reports
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In lieu of flowers, the Kraft family has asked that donations be made in her name to the Myra Kraft Giving Back Scholarship Fund at the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston.
Myra Kraft Giving Back Scholarship Fund
50 Congress Street
Suite 730
Boston, MA 02109
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