Stef Wertheimer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Stef Wertheimer |
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| Born: | July 16, 1926 Kipenheim,Germany |
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| Occupation: | Chief executive officer |
| Salary: | $? USD |
| Net worth: | $2.4 billion USD[1] |
Stef Wertheimer (Hebrew: סטף ורטהיימר, born July 16, 1926) is an Israeli industrialist, former Member of the Knesset, winner of the Israel Prize and one of Israel's wealthiest citizens.
[edit] Early life
Wertheimer was born in Germany. His family fled to Israel in 1937. He was enrolled in The Nordau School in Tel-Aviv but left by age sixteen and started to work.
In 1945 he joined the Palmach, where he served as a demolition officer in the Yiftah brigade. When the Palmach was disbanded, he took a job at RAFAEL, only to be dismissed shortly thereafter due to his lack of formal education.
[edit] Iscar
In 1952, Wertheimer established a metal tool cutting factory in Nahariya, Israel. The factory became a quick success and attracted the interest of Discount Investments, who would later become a minority investor in the company. ISCAR branches exist in over 50 countries worldwide and the company employs nearly 6,000 people.
In 1968, Wertheimer established plant "Iscar blades" as a result of French embargo after Six Day war. Afterwards, this plant was renamed to "Blades Technology". "Blades Technology" is one of the largest manufacturers of blades for turbofan engines. Among the customers are Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, Snecma and General Electric .
In 1977 he was amongst the founding members of Dash, a new centrist political party. The party was initially highly successful, winning 15 seats in the 1977 elections, with Wertheimer taking one of the seats.. When the party split up in 1978, he joined Shinui. However, he resigned from the Knesset in 1981, four months before the elections, and was replaced by Stella Levy. During his term in the Knesset, he was a member of the Economics Committee.
In May 2006, billionaire investor Warren Buffett announced that his corporation, Berkshire Hathaway, agreed to purchase a majority stake in ISCAR for $4 billion.
Wertheimer promotes the idea of economic development by establishing industrial parks which encourage new businesses. He built Tefen Industrial Park in the north of Israel as a working model of this idea.
