Dan David (businessman)
Dan David | |
|---|---|
דן דוד | |
| Born | 23 May 1929 |
| Died | 6 September 2011 (aged 82) |
| Known for | businessman and philanthropist |
Dan David (Hebrew: דן דוד; 23 May 1929 – 6 September 2011) was a Romanian-born Israeli businessman and philanthropist.
Biography
Dan David was born to a Jewish family in Bucharest, Romania. He joined a Zionist youth movement at the age of 16. After studying economics at university, he worked for Romanian television and became a press photographer. In 1958, his newspaper asked him to travel to West Germany on an assignment. When he requested an exit permit, he was accused of being a Zionist activist and was fired from his job.[1]
He left Romania for Paris in August 1960, later settling in Israel. The following year, he traveled to Europe.
David died in London on 6 September 2011.[2]
Business career
With a $200,000 loan from a cousin, he won the franchise for Photo-Me International automated photography booths in certain countries. He opened branches in Israel, Spain, Romania and Italy, eventually taking over the company.[3] When David was chairman[4] of Photo-Me in 1999, his and board-member Serge Crasnianski's shares were valued at 210 and 200 million pounds, respectively.[5]
Dan David Prize
In 2000, David founded the Dan David Foundation with a $100 million endowment.[6] The Foundation awards the Dan David Prize (first awarded in 2002), which is headquartered at Tel Aviv University. For its first 20 years, the prize consisted of three $1 million awards granted in rotating fields of the sciences and the humanities.[7] In 2021, the Foundation announced[8] it was redesigning the prize to focus on history and other disciplines that study the past, granting up to nine awards of $300,000 to early- and mid-career researchers in those fields.[9]
Commemoration
The Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research was inaugurated on 25 November 2018, in Dan David's memory.[10] The Center is affiliated with both the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and the Steinhardt Museum of Natural History, where its laboratories and facilities encompass over 1200 meters squared.[11] The facilities include a micro-CT as well as histological and ancient DNA laboratories.[12] The Center also houses Israel's national fossil collection,[13] and a museum exhibit on human biological and cultural evolution.[14]
References
- ^ "Businessman-philanthropist Dan David dies in London". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 7 September 2011.
- ^ Businessman-philanthropist Dan David dies in London
- ^ "The true worth of Dan David". Haaretz. Retrieved 2 February 2010.
- ^ Cope, Nigel (5 August 2000). "Institutions demand a boardroom clear-out at Photo-Me". The Independent. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
Dan David, the 71-year-old chairman... Serge Crasnianski, the chief executive
- ^ "Business: The Economy UK Net millionaires boom". BBC News. 3 October 1999. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
- ^ "Former VP wins $1 million prize from Israeli group".
- ^ "The Prize 2001 - 2021". Dan David Prize. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- ^ "Dan David Prize relaunches, now the world's largest history award". The Jerusalem Post. 2 September 2021. ISSN 0792-822X. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- ^ "The Prize". Dan David Prize. Retrieved 2 September 2021.
- ^ "Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory". Tel Aviv University News and Events. Tel Aviv University. 2 December 2018. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2019.
- ^ "About the Dan David Center". Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019.
- ^ "Facilities". Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019.
- ^ "Collection". Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019.
- ^ "What makes us Human?". Steinhardt Museum of Natural History. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2020.