Israel Rogosin (March 15, 1887 – April 28, 1971) was an American

industrialist A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

in the textile industry and a

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

Early life

Rogosin was born to a

Lithuanian Jewish Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent areas o ...

family of Samuel Eliezer and Hanna in

Valozhyn Valozhyn, Vałožyn or Volozhin ( be, Вало́жын, , russian: Воло́жин, lt, Valažinas, pl, Wołożyn, yi, וואָלאָזשין ''Volozhin''; also written as Wolozin and Wolozhin) is a town in the Minsk Region of Belarus. The pop ...

, then part of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(now in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

). His father came to the United States in 1890 upon request of the head of the

Yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...

in Valozhyn, the

Netziv Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (20 November 1816 in Mir, Russia – 10 August 1893 in Warsaw, Poland), also known as Reb Hirsch Leib Berlin, and commonly known by the acronym Netziv, was an Orthodox rabbi, '' Rosh yeshiva'' (dean) of the Volozhin ...

, in order to collect funds for it. Samuel Rogosin founded a small

textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

in 1895 and was joined by his wife and four children a year later. Samuel decided to become a head of a Yeshiva and therefore left the mill management in Israel's hands, Israel was 16 years old then. The mill employed about 200 workers in 1912 and due to Israel's successful management and acquisition of other mills, Rogosin employed in 1920 about a thousand workers in five mills. The ''Beaunit Corporation'' was founded in 1921.

Rogosin Industries

Rogosin founded ''Rogosin Industries Ltd.'' in April 1956 as a

rayon Rayon is a semi-synthetic fiber, made from natural sources of regenerated cellulose, such as wood and related agricultural products. It has the same molecular structure as cellulose. It is also called viscose. Many types and grades of viscose f ...

yarn Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manufact ...

and tow plant. Upon request of the Israeli finance minister then,

Pinchas Sapir Pinchas Sapir ( he, פנחס ספיר, born Pinchas Kozlowski 15 October 1906 – 12 August 1975) was an Israeli politician during the first three decades following the country's founding. He held two important ministerial posts, Minister of Fin ...

, the plant was moved in 1958 to the newly established town of

Ashdod Ashdod ( he, ''ʾašdōḏ''; ar, أسدود or إسدود ''ʾisdūd'' or '' ʾasdūd'' ; Philistine: 𐤀𐤔𐤃𐤃 *''ʾašdūd'') is the sixth-largest city in Israel. Located in the country's Southern District, it lies on the Mediterran ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

after the Israeli government supplied an area of 1000

dunam A dunam ( Ottoman Turkish, Arabic: ; tr, dönüm; he, דונם), also known as a donum or dunum and as the old, Turkish, or Ottoman stremma, was the Ottoman unit of area equivalent to the Greek stremma or English acre, representing the amount ...

s for its establishment. In 1963 Rogosin sold his shares in the ''Beaunit Corp.''. At that time the company employed about 10,000 employees with an annual revenue of 150 million dollars.

Later life and legacy

In 1966 Rogosin donated $1 million to the establishment of a Center for Jewish Ethics in New York. He died in Allenhurst, New Jersey. His only son

Lionel Rogosin Lionel Rogosin (January 22, 1924, New York City, New York – December 8, 2000, Los Angeles, California) was an independent American filmmaker. Rogosin worked in political cinema, non-fiction Partisan (political), partisan filmmaking and docufi ...

, an independent American filmmaker, was born in 1924.

The Rogosin Institute The Rogosin Institute is an independent, not-for-profit treatment and research center with facilities throughout New York City that treat patients with kidney disease, including dialysis and kidney transplantation; lipid disorders; and hyper ...

, a not-for-profit medical treatment and research institution for kidney disease in New York City, is named after Israel Rogosin.

Philanthropy in Israel

Convinced by his son

to support the new State of Israel, he invested in Ashdod in particular with a factory and schools. He donated "$2.5 million through the Jewish Agency's Education Fund toward the construction of ten high schools throughout Israel." In his honor, Ashdod's main street and two of its schools are named after him. Three of the high schools he funded were located in Ashdod. In 1960, Rogosin also donated money to plant a 100,000 tree pulp forest near

Ruhama Ruhama ( he, רֻחָמָה) is a kibbutz in the Negev desert in southern Israel. The original settlement, established in 1911, is considered the first modern Jewish settlement in the Negev. Located around ten kilometres east of Sderot and surro ...

in the Northern Negev. He is still to this day one of the top donors in the history of Israel. All together Mr.Rogosin donated 16 million dollars in the 1960s to Israel. Twelve million for industry and 4 million for schools.

References

External links

Further information on the Rogosin family

Homepage of the Rogosin Institute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogosin, Israel American philanthropists American industrialists Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States 1887 births 1971 deaths