Leslie J. Sacks (1952 – September 26, 2013) was a Los Angeles-based art dealer and founder of

Women's Voices Now Women's Voices Now (WVN) is an American non-profit organization that "uses film to drive positive social change that advances girls' and women's rights globally". It organizes online short film festivals A festival is an event ordinarily ce ...

Early life

Sacks 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

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

, South Africa in 1952,One Long House: Wolfe Sacks
retrieved April 29, 2015 the second of three children born to

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 ...

immigrants. His father was South African businessman Wolfe Harry Sacks. His sister Caron Sacks is married to Israeli politician

Ze'ev Bielski Ze'ev Bielski ( he, זאב בילסקי, born 13 March 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Kadima between 2009 and 2013. He previously chaired the Jewish Agency and the World Zionist Organization and worked as ...

, and is the mother of actress

Adi Bielski Adi Bielski ( he, עדי בילסקי; born January 28, 1982) is an Israeli theatre and movie actress. She was born in Jerusalem and raised in Ra’anana. Education When she was only 3 years old, Bielski took up dancing in a dance studio and du ...

. His brother

Rodney Sacks Rodney Cyril Sacks (born 1949) is a South African billionaire businessman, chairman, and CEO of Monster Beverage since 1990. Early life Rodney Cyril Sacks was born into a Lithuanian-Jewish family, he grew up in South Africa. His brother was art ...

is the co-founder of

Monster Beverage Monster Beverage Corporation is an American beverage company that manufactures energy drinks including Monster Energy, Relentless (drink), Relentless and Burn (energy drink), Burn. The company was originally founded as Hansen's in 1935 in Southe ...

. Sacks graduated from the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( o ...

with a degree in psychology and computer science. While in college, he fought against

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

Career

In 1981, he opened his first art gallery, Les Art, in South Africa. In 1991, he moved to Los Angeles and opened Leslie Sacks Fine Art in

Brentwood, California Brentwood is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. It is located in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population is 66,854 as of 2022, an increase of 287% from 23,302 at the 2000 census. Brentwood began ...

. In 2007, he purchased the Bobbie Greenfield Gallery at Bergamot Station, renaming it Leslie Sacks Contemporary. His specialities were African tribal art, post-war artists, and contemporary artists including

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

and

Robert Motherwell Robert Motherwell (January 24, 1915 – July 16, 1991) was an American Abstract Expressionism, abstract expressionist Painting, painter, printmaker, and editor of ''The Dada Painters and Poets: an Anthology''. He was one of the youngest of th ...

. His collection of African art was published in ''Refined Eye, Passionate Heart - African Art from the Leslie Sacks Collection'' by Skira.

Philanthropy

In 2010, Sacks founded and funded

, a charity dedicated to "empowering women living in Muslim-majority societies by promoting their free expression, thereby giving voice to the struggles for civil, economic, political, and gender rights". He was an ardent supporter of the state of Israel. Sacks produced a documentary about his father, South Africa businessman Wolfe Harry Sacks.

Personal life

Sacks died of cancer on September 26, 2013. He was survived by his wife Gina Brourman-Sacks, an immigrant from South Korea. He has two sons and two stepsons. His wife succeeded him as board chair of Women's Voices Now.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sacks, Leslie 1952 births 2013 deaths American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent South African Jews South African people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent American art collectors Jewish American philanthropists

Leslie Leslie may refer to: * Leslie (name), a name and list of people with the given name or surname, including fictional characters Families * Clan Leslie, a Scottish clan with the motto "grip fast" * Leslie (Russian nobility), a Russian noble family ...

University of the Witwatersrand alumni American art dealers People from Johannesburg 21st-century American Jews