Stef Wertheimer

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Stef Wertheimer (2007)

Stef Wertheimer ( Hebrew סטף ורטהיימר, * July 16, 1926 in Kippenheim as Stefan Wertheimer ) is an Israeli entrepreneur and philanthropist of German origin.

He is considered to be the richest Israeli living in Israel. He was a member of the Knesset ( Dash , then Schinui ) from 1977 to 1981 and is mainly known for establishing various industrial parks in Israel itself and in various neighboring states.

In 1991 he received the Israel Prize , in 2008 the Buber-Rosenzweig Medal and in 2012 the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic.

Life

Wertheimer was born in Kippenheim near Lahr. In 1937 his family fled to Palestine and settled in Tel Aviv . He attended Tel Nordau School, which he had to leave at the age of 14, and worked in a camera workshop. At the same time he began to study optics with Professor Emanuel Goldberg , an important researcher and inventor.

In 1943 he joined the British Army. He served in the Royal Air Force and worked in Bahrain as an optics technician.

In 1945 he joined the Palmach , in 1947 the Haganah , for whom he worked in weapons development. During the War of Independence he was a technical officer in the Yiftach Brigade.

After the war he worked for the state armaments company RAFAEL , from which he was soon dismissed because he had no official degrees.

In 1952 Wertheimer founded a small metal processing company called ISCAR in Naharija . The company was successful quite quickly and attracted the attention of investors. In 2006 Wertheimer sold 80 percent of the shares for four billion dollars in Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway , which has owned it in full since 2013. Today ISCAR, as part of the IMC Group, is one of the largest tool manufacturers in the world and employs around 6000 people.

In 1969 Stef Wertheimer founded Iscar Blades , later one of the largest manufacturers of components for aircraft turbines , as part of the Israeli initiative to overcome the French arms embargo .

From 1977 to 1981 he was a member of the Knesset.

Wertheimer operates several industrial zones in Israel . The Tefen Industrial Zone has existed since 1982. This is where the soap production of Fuad and Gamila Hiar, among others, is located, which uses traditional recipes to manufacture soaps for the international cosmetics trade. The complex also includes the Tefen Open Museum , which consists of museum buildings, a gallery and the Tefen sculpture garden . The same concept was implemented in Tel Hai at Kiryat Shmona and in Omer at Be'er Scheva .

literature

  • Klaus Kreppel : The Galilean from Kippenheim. Steff Wertheimer for his seventy-fifth on July 16, 2001. In: “The Ortenau. Publications of the historical association for Mittelbaden. “81st year. Annual band. Offenburg 2001. ISSN  0342-1503 , pp. 487-510.
  • Klaus Kreppel: Stef Wertheimer: A "Swabian inventor" is conquering the world market. In: Klaus Kreppel, Israel's hardworking Jeckes. Twelve business portraits of German-speaking Jews from Nahariya. With a foreword by Paul Spiegel. Westfalen Verlag Bielefeld 2002. ISBN 3-88918-1015 , pp. 171-182
  • Bernd Rottenecker: Stef Wertheimer (born 1926) - a "Galilean from Kippenheim" . In: Jürgen Stude, Bernd Rottenecker, Dieter Petri: Jüdisches Leben in der Ortenau, Bühl: seitenweise 2018, ISBN 978-3-943874-25-9 , pp. 218-219.

Web links

Commons : Stef Wertheimer  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Henryk M. Broder: Capitalist Kibbutz: Badisches Utopia in Galiläa. In: Spiegel Online . July 11, 2009, accessed June 10, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Klaus Kreppel : The Galilean from Kippenheim. Steff Wertheimer for his seventy-fifth on July 16, 2001. In: “The Ortenau. Publications of the historical association for Mittelbaden. “81st year. Annual band. Offenburg 2001. ISSN  0342-1503 , pp. 487-510. Likewise: Klaus Kreppel, Stef Wertheimer: A "Swabian inventor" conquers the world market. In: Klaus Kreppel, Israel's hardworking Jeckes. Twelve business portraits of German-speaking Jews from Nahariya. With a foreword by Paul Spiegel. Westfalen Verlag Bielefeld 2002. ISBN 3-88918-1015 , pp. 171-182
  3. ↑ http://www.hagalil.com/01/de/Israel.php?itemid=2074
  4. ↑ Klaus Kreppel : The Galilean from Kippenheim. Steff Wertheimer for his seventy-fifth on July 16, 2001. In: “The Ortenau. Publications of the historical association for Mittelbaden. “81st year. Annual band. Offenburg 2001. ISSN  0342-1503 , p. 493.
personal data
SURNAME Wertheimer, Stef
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wertheimer, Stefan (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Israeli entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH July 16, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Kippenheim