Stef Wertheimer (, born 16 July 1926) is an Israeli billionaire industrialist, investor, philanthropist and former politician. He was a Member of the Knesset, and is known for founding industrial parks in Israel and neighboring countries. The Wertheimers are Israel's richest family as of 2013.
Biography
Stef (Ze'ev) Wertheimer was born in Kippenheim, Germany to a Jewish family. His family fled to Mandatory Palestine in 1937 to escape Nazism.
He studied in the Tel-Nordau School in Tel Aviv but dropped out of school at age 16 and started working in a camera repair store. At the same time, he began studying optics with Professor Emanuel Goldberg, a researcher and inventor who contributed significantly to different aspects of imaging technology in the first half of the twentieth century.
In 1943, during World War II, Wertheimer joined the British Royal Air Force. Wertheimer served as an optical equipment technician. He was sent to Bahrain where he repaired optical equipment installed in Britain's military aircraft.
In 1945 he joined the Palmach, where he served as a technical officer in the "German Unit" – a special guerilla force trained with British cooperation to participate in combat operations against the German army, should it reach Israel. In 1947, he joined the Haganah and worked in the development and improvement of cannons. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, he served as a technical officer in the Yiftach Brigade.
After the war, Wertheimer started working at Rafael, only to be dismissed shortly thereafter because of his lack of formal education. Following the war, he and his wife briefly lived on kibbutz Yir'on, but left, as he did not agree with the socialist economic model adopted by the kibbutz movement.
Wertheimer is married with four children and lives in Tel Aviv. His granddaughter is the Israeli actress Maya Wertheimer. In 2018, Eitan Wertheimer purchased a house for his father, Stef, for 20 million ILS.
Business career
In 1952, Wertheimer started his own business in the backyard of his home in Nahariya, a small metal shop and tool making company called ISCAR. The company quickly became a success and attracted the interest of Discount Investments, who later became a minority investor in the company. Today, ISCAR is one of the world's largest (by sales) manufacturers of carbide industrial-cutting tools, which are used by carmakers like General Motors and Ford. ISCAR branches exist in dozens of countries worldwide and the company employs over 5,000 people.
In 1968, as part of Israeli efforts to overcome the French weapons embargo after the Six-Day War, Wertheimer founded ISCAR Blades which later became Blades Technology – one of the largest manufacturers of blades and vanes for jet engines and industrial gas turbines. Wetheimer sold his 51% stake in Blades Technology in 2014 to jet engine maker Pratt & Whitney for an undisclosed amount.
In May 2006, Berkshire Hathaway bought 80% of ISCAR Metalworking Company for $4 billion (the Wertheimers paid $1 billion in taxes to the Israeli government). In May 2013 Buffett bought the rest of Iscar for $2.05 billion. On 5 March 2021, Forbes listed Wertheimer's net worth at US$6.2 billion, ranking him 216 on the Billionaires 2020 list.
Industrial parks
Wertheimer founded seven industrial parks – in Tefen, Tel Hai, Dalton, Lavon and now Nazareth in the Galilee; in Omer in the Negev; and another in Gebze, Kocaeli, Turkey. Each is based on five principles: exports, education, coexistence, community and culture, with the goal of fostering economic growth and job creation to help create stability in the region. As Wertheimer has explained, "The idea of industrial parks in the Middle East and on the borders between Israel and its neighbors is that the parks will bring industry and provide jobs, which will keep people busy working, instead of engaging in terrorism."