Arthur B. Belfer (May 30, 1907 – May 2, 1993) was a Polish-born, American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Belco Petroleum Corporation.

Biography

Belfer was born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family in Wodzisław, Poland. He worked as a dealer in feathers and down in Cracow.New York Times: "Arthur Belfer, 86, Philanthropist And Head of Petroleum Concern" By Marvine Howe
May 4, 1993 In 1939, at the age of 33, he arrived on a business trip in the United States four days after the

Nazi invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...

and soon found out that all his money had no value. Convincing a New York investor to purchase feathers, he established the Belfer Corporation which manufactured down sleeping bags for the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

. In 1953, the Belfer Corporation expanded into foam rubber and the petroleum. In 1954, he founded the Belco Petroleum Corporation which was dedicated to the exploration and development of petroleum fields in

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

and

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

.Funding Universe: "History of Belco Oil & Gas Corp."
retrieved September 21, 2017 Belco grew rapidly eventually becoming a

Fortune 500 The ''Fortune'' 500 is an annual list compiled and published by ''Fortune'' magazine that ranks 500 of the largest United States corporations by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. The list includes publicly held companies, along ...

company. In 1962, Belco was listed on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

. In 1983, it merged with and into

InterNorth InterNorth Inc. was a large energy company headquartered at the Northern Natural Gas Building in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States, specializing in natural gas pipelines but also a force in the plastics industry, coal and petroleum exploration ...

, Inc., a holding company specializing in natural gas pipelines but also plastics, coal and petroleum; the new entity was renamed the BelNorth Petroleum Corporation, and became a subsidiary of InterNorth. In 1985, InterNorth merged with

Houston Natural Gas Houston Natural Gas Corporation (HNG) was a gas utility headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company was acquired by InterNorth Inc. in 1985, with HNG executives taking top positions at InterNorth. Following the transaction, InterNorth was renamed ...

and changed its name to the

Enron Corporation Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional companies. B ...

. In 1985, Enron's Peruvian assets (formerly of Belco) were nationalized by the Peruvian government and Enron took a $218 million loss.Enron: The Rise and Fall
By Loren Fox In 1986, he resigned from Enron although remained a major shareholder. His son, Robert A. Belfer, continued to serve as a director at Enron. Belfer is known for numerous philanthropic activities. He established the Belfer Institute for Advanced Biomedical Studies at

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universit ...

, the Belfer Graduate School of Science of Yeshiva University, the Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Institute for Latino and Latin American Affairs, the Diane & Arthur Belfer Geriatrics Center, endowed the R. A. Rees Pritchett Chair in Microbiology at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

, and founded the Belfer Center for Energy Research in Israel. His family's ownership interest in Enron reached nearly $2 billion in 2000, immediately before its collapse in 2001.New York Times: "Enron's Collapse: The Losers; With a Billion in Enron's Stock, Rich Wallet Is Suddenly Lighter" by Leslie Eaton and Geraldine Fabrikant
December 5, 2001

Personal life

Belfer was married twice. His first wife, Rochelle Anisfeld, died in 1961; they had three children: Robert A. Belfer (born 1935), Selma Belfer Ruben, and Anita Belfer Saltz. In 1965, he married Diane Belfer. Belfer died of cancer on May 2, 1993 in New York City. He was a resident of

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and

Palm Beach, Florida Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida. Located on a barrier island in east-central Palm Beach County, the town is separated from several nearby cities including West Palm Beach and Lake Worth Beach by the Intracoas ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belfer, Arthur American people of Polish-Jewish descent American company founders Jewish American philanthropists 1907 births 1993 deaths American businesspeople in the oil industry 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American Jews Polish emigrants to the United States