Harvey L. Silbert (1912–2002) was an American real estate and

entertainment lawyer Entertainment law, also referred to as media law, is legal services provided to the entertainment industry. These services in entertainment law overlap with intellectual property law. Intellectual property has many moving parts that include tradema ...

, casino executive and philanthropist. He represented celebrities and studio executives. He was a real estate investor in

Westwood, Los Angeles Westwood is a commercial and residential neighborhood in the northern central portion of the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Bordering the campus on the south ...

, and a director of casinos in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. He was a major donor to the

Hebrew University of Jerusalem The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJI; he, הַאוּנִיבֶרְסִיטָה הַעִבְרִית בִּירוּשָׁלַיִם) is a public research university based in Jerusalem, Israel. Co-founded by Albert Einstein and Dr. Chaim Weiz ...

, where he brought Hollywood celebrities for fundraisers.

Early life and education

Harvey Silbert was born on June 10, 1912, in

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at th ...

. He grew up in

Boyle Heights Boyle is an English, Irish and Scottish surname of Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin. In the northwest of Ireland it is one of the most common family names. Notable people with the surname include: Disambiguation *Adam Boyle (disambiguation), ...

, and he became barmitzvah at the

Breed Street Shul Breed Street Shul, also known as Congregation Talmud Torah of Los Angeles or Breed Street Synagogue, is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue in the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles, California. It was the largest Orthodox synagogue west of Chicago fr ...

. Silbert graduated from the Southwestern University Law School.

Legal and business career

Silbert was an entertainment lawyer. He represented actors including

Constance Bennett Constance Campbell Bennett (October 22, 1904 – July 24, 1965) was an American stage, film, radio, and television actress and producer. She was a major Hollywood star during the 1920s and 1930s; during the early 1930s, she was the highest-paid ...

Gail Russell Gail Russell (born Betty Gale Russell; September 21, 1924 – August 26, 1961) was an American film and television actress. Early years Gail Russell was born to George and Gladys (Barnet) Russell in Chicago and then moved to the Los Angeles ...

Dan Dailey Daniel James Dailey Jr. (December 14, 1915 – October 16, 1978) was an American dancer and actor. He is best remembered for a series of popular musicals he made at 20th Century Fox such as ''Mother Wore Tights'' (1947). Biography Early life Da ...

, and

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...

, and studio and casino executives such as

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

. With investors Bernard M. Silbert and M. A. Borenstein, Silbert acquired "50 retail stores and 12 parking lots" in Westwood, from S. Jon Kreedman in 1961. (The properties belonged to

Arnold Kirkeby Arnold Sigurd Kirkeby (June 12, 1901 – March 1, 1962) was an American hotelier, art collector, and real estate investor. He is now best known for owning Chartwell Mansion in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Bel Air which was the exterior set ...

, but Kreedman had an option on them.) Silbert served as the secretary and treasurer of the Albert Parvin Foundation, which owned stocks in the Parvin-Dohrmann Corporation, until it sold its gambling stocks due to allegations of corruption regarding Supreme Court Justice

William O. Douglas William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898January 19, 1980) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who was known for his strong progressive and civil libertarian views, and is often c ...

in March 1968. Two months later, in May 1968, Silbert joined the board of directors of the corporation, which owned the

Fremont Hotel and Casino The Fremont Hotel & Casino is located in downtown Las Vegas, Nevada, on the Fremont Street Experience. The casino is operated by the Boyd Gaming Corporation. History The Fremont Hotel is located on 200 Fremont Street. It was designed by archit ...

and the

Stardust Resort and Casino The Stardust Resort and Casino was a casino resort located on along the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. The Stardust was conceived by Tony Cornero, and construction began in 1954. Cornero died in 1955, and the project was taken over by his ...

. Also in May 1968, he joined the board of directors of the

Riviera ''Riviera'' () is an Italian word which means "coastline", ultimately derived from Latin , through Ligurian . It came to be applied as a proper name to the coast of Liguria, in the form ''Riviera ligure'', then shortened in English. The two areas ...

, a hotel and casino on the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of ...

, alongside

David Merrick David Merrick (born David Lee Margoulis; November 27, 1911 – April 25, 2000) was an American theatrical producer who won a number of Tony Awards. Life and career Born David Lee Margulois to Jewish parents in St. Louis, Missouri, Merrick gradua ...

and Harry A. Goodman. Silbert, who by December 1968 served as the vice president of the Parvin-Dohrmann Corporation, oversaw the acquisition of the Aladdin Resort & Casino from

Milton Prell Milton Prell (September 6, 1905 – June 2, 1974) was a hotel owner and developer most notable for his projects in Las Vegas, Nevada. Early life Prell was born to a Jewish family in Saint Louis, Missouri; as a young man he moved to Los Angeles, Ca ...

for US5.45 million in December 1968. Three years later, in 1971, he served as the president of the Riviera casino. Silbert developed the Sheraton Plaza Hotel in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...

, in 1984. Silbert was a lawyer at Loeb & Loeb, an international law firm based in

Century City Century City is a 176-acre (71.2 ha) neighborhood and business district in Los Angeles, California. Located on the Westside to the south of Santa Monica Boulevard around 10 miles (16 km) west of Downtown Los Angeles, Century City is one of ...

, in the 1990s. From 1998 to 2002, Silbert belonged to Christensen, Miller, Fink, Jacobs, Glaser, Weil and Shapiro.

Philanthropy

Silbert served on the board of directors of the

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a nonprofit, tertiary, 886-bed teaching hospital and multi-specialty academic health science center located in Los Angeles, California. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over 2 ...

, the Bet Tzedek Legal Services, and the

Shaare Zedek Medical Center The Shaare Zedek Medical Center ( he, מרכז רפואי שערי צדק, ''Merkaz Refu'i Sha'arei Tzedek'') (lit. "Gates of Justice") is a large teaching hospital in Jerusalem established in 1902, It affiliated with Hebrew University of Jerusal ...

. He made charitable gifts to the

Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...

and the

Milken Family Foundation The Milken Family Foundation is a private foundation established by Lowell Milken and Michael Milken in 1982. Lowell Milken serves as chairman and co-founder of the foundation. Goals The foundation is focused primarily on supporting education ...

. Silbert served on the board of trustees of his alma mater, the Southwestern University School of Law, where he endowed the Harvey L. and Lillian Silbert Public Interest Fellowship Program with his wife. He also served on the board of trustees of the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(UCLA). He also endowed the Silbert International Scholars Program at UCLA's

School of Medicine A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, MB ...

. Silbert served as the chairman of the American Friends of the

. With his wife, he endowed the Harvey L. Silbert Center for Israeli Studies and supported the construction of the Lillian and Harvey L. Silbert Humanities Building, the Silbert Family Wing in the Louis Boyar Building, and the Lillian Silbert Garden on its campus. Moreover, Silbert helped Bernard Cherrick, its vice president, bring Hollywood celebrities to attend fundraisers on campus. He persuaded

to endow the construction of the Frank Sinatra International Student Centre on campus. He also persuaded

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers List ...

to endow the Emanuel Streisand Building for Jewish Studies in 1984.

Personal life, death and legacy

Silbert married Lillian Schwartz around 1935. They had a son, Kenneth, and a daughter, Lynne. They resided in a house designed by architect Harold Levitt in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. B ...

. Silbert died on September 28, 2002, in Los Angeles, California. His funeral was held at the

Temple Israel of Hollywood Temple Israel of Hollywood is a Reform Jewish synagogue in Hollywood, California founded in 1926. Services were originally held in the Hayakawa Mansion before the first Temple Israel building was established on Ivar Street under the leadership ...

. The American Friends of the Hebrew University named the annual Harvey L. Silbert Torch of Learning Award in his honor. It was awarded to attorney William Shernoff in 2008. By 2015, it was awarded to Jonathan H. Anschell, the Executive Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Secretary for the

CBS Corporation The second incarnation of CBS Corporation (the first being a short-lived rename of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation) was an American multinational media conglomerate with interests primarily in commercial broadcasting, publishing, and t ...

, and Richard S. Volpert, a partner at the law firm Glaser Weil.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silbert, Harvey 1912 births 2002 deaths People from Boyle Heights, Los Angeles Lawyers from Los Angeles People from Beverly Hills, California American entertainment lawyers American corporate directors American real estate businesspeople American casino industry businesspeople Philanthropists from California American philanthropists 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American lawyers 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews