Children of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, the Einhorns were born and raised in New York City, where they attended public schools. Oscar Einhorn worked for most of his adult life in a manufacturing business founded by his father. After World War II, the Einhorns moved to New Jersey, where they were active in congregational and communal affairs, a practice they continued after moving to Champaign in 1974. It was Oscar Einhorn's idea to create a fund in memory of his wife to support lectures and other public events organized by the Committee on Jewish Culture and Society. Shortly after his death, the Einhorn's children, Ann (of Champaign) and Henry (of Washington DC) established the fund as a memorial to both of their parents. 

Due to the generous gift from the Einhorn family, the Oscar and Rose Einhorn fund has brought a stellar range of Jewish Studies scholar to campus for many years. Einhorn lecturers typically offer a small Jewish Studies workshop and then a large lecture and this format allows for both in-depth discussion and then for students, faculty, and community, to come together to learn about a richly interesting and relevant topic in a larger setting. Past Einhorn lecturers include Sarah Horowitz (York), “Reinventing Anne Frank;” Maud Mandel (Brown) “Is ‘Fraternity’ Possible?: Muslim-Jewish Relations in Contemporary France—History and Reflections;” Sarah Stein (UCLA), “Plumes: Ostrich Feathers, Jews, and a Lost World of Global Commerce;” Jeffrey Shandler (Rutgers), “Adventures in Yiddishland;” and Marianne Hirsch and Leo Spitzer, "Vienna of the East: Czernowitz in Jewish Cultural Memory". The diversity these subjects and the strength of these scholars have together vastly enriched our program.