Old age adds to the respect due to virtue, but it takes nothing from the contempt inspired by vice; it whitens only the hair.

The Center is designed to give English-language programs to primarily Hispanic and Chinese Americans. Ira and his younger brother George spent many after-school hours at the Settlement. He is interred at Westchester Hills Cemetery Hastings-on-Hudson New York.

His critically acclaimed book Lyrics on Several Occasions of 1959 an amalgam of autobiography and annotated anthology is an important source for studying the art of the lyricist in the golden age of American popular song. Ira Gershwin (December 6 1896 – August 17 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother composer George Gershwin to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century. He was also responsible along with DuBose Heyward for the libretto to George's opera Porgy and Bess.