Jacob Gelt Dekker (22 April 1948 – 1 September 2019) was a Dutch businessman, philanthropist, and writer. Born in

Oterleek Oterleek is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Alkmaar, and lies about 4 km south of Heerhugowaard. History The village was first mentioned in 1256 as Oterleke, and is a combination of " ...

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

, Dekker attended school between 1961 and 1967 in

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland, about 30 km north of Amsterdam. Alkmaar is well known for its traditional cheese market. For tourists, it is a popular cultural destination. The ...

and later studied

dentistry Dentistry, also known as dental medicine and oral medicine, is the branch of medicine focused on the teeth, gums, and mouth. It consists of the study, diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases, disorders, and conditions o ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. He received an

Executive MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from

Erasmus University Erasmus University Rotterdam (abbreviated as ''EUR'', nl, Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam ) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century humanist ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

and the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of Roc ...

. Following his education, Dekker created a series of entrepreneurial inventions, including the Splash Healthclubs in 1985 and One Hour Super Photo service, which

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

later purchased. In 1981, he took over

Budget Rent a Car Budget Rent a Car is an American car rental company that was founded in 1958 in Los Angeles, California by Morris Mirkin. Budget is a subsidiary of the Avis Budget Group, with its operations headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey. History ...

in the Netherlands for 200,000

Dutch guilder The guilder ( nl, gulden, ) or florin was the currency of the Netherlands from the 15th century until 2002, when it was replaced by the euro. The Dutch name ''gulden'' was a Middle Dutch adjective meaning "golden", and reflects the fact that, wh ...

s, which he expanded from 20 cars to over 25,000 cars and sold in 1996 for 600 million NLG. In 2006 Dekker was #90 on the list of 500 richest Dutch citizens. Kura Hulanda Museum entrance

In 1998, the Island Government of

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

granted Dekker permission to renovate a derelict quarter of the historic neighbourhood of

Otrobanda Otrobanda is one of the historic quarters of Willemstad, located at the southwest side of the city, in Curaçao. Otrobanda was founded in 1707, and has been designated a Unesco World Heritage Site. History Otrobanda was founded in 1707 as a subur ...

into a hotel and casino, which subsequently filed for bankruptcy in 2013. On the same premises, Dekker founded the Kura Hulanda Museum, with 10 collections describing the

slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. In later years, Dekker involved himself in politics and philanthropy. In 2006, the Governor of the

Netherlands Antilles nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom" , national_anthem = , common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento , demonym = Netherlands Antillean , capital = Willemstad , year_start = 1954 , year_end = 2010 , date_start = 15 December , ...

awarded Dekker the prestigious rank of Officer of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

. Dekker was a cofounder of the Kura Hulanda Foundation, the Dekker-Padget Dutch2USA Internship Program, and Givingback Nederlands. Dekker was treated for

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

.Death
''Curacao Chronicle'', 01-28-2016. Retrieved 31 December 2017 After he published The Caribbean (Amsterdam Publishers 2018), he started work on a publication about immigrants. Dekker died after a long battle with cancer at his home in

Key West, Florida Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Sigsbee Park, Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Isla ...

in the United States on 1 September 2019 at the age of 71.

References

Bibliography

* Dekker, Jacob Gelt. ''Bajanala, a stranger in Africa'' S.N., 1998. * Dekker, Jacob Gelt. ''The Caribbean''. Oegstgeest, Amsterdam Publishers, 2018.

External links

Gelt Dekker 2010 tedX TalkKura Hulanda Museum websiteStichting Giving Back websiteAmsterdam Publishers website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dekker, Jacob Gelt 1948 births 2019 deaths People from Schermer Dutch businesspeople Dutch philanthropists Dutch emigrants to Curaçao Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau 20th-century philanthropists