Strauss served on boards of directors for several corporations, one of which was the United States Rubber Company. He was a trustee of the Hampton Institute, a historically black university in Virginia, as well as of the Memorial Hospital for the Treatment of Cancer and Allied Diseases in New York. Due to donations made to the Medical College of Virginia, a research building there was named after him. He was a founding trustee of Eisenhower College, for which he had assisted in the planning and raising funds. In 1955, Strauss received a silver plaque from the Men's Club of Temple Emanu-El for "distinguished service"; President Eisenhower sent a message to the ceremony saying the honor was well-deserved.