Martin Trust also known as Marty Trust (1934 – 2019) was an American

business magnate 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 ...

entrepreneur and philanthropist who was also known for his contributions to the

economy of Sri Lanka The free-market economy of Sri Lanka was worth $84 billion by nominal gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 and $296.959 billion by purchasing power parity (PPP). The country had experienced an annual growth of 6.4 percent from 2003 to 2012, well a ...

by modernising the country's apparel industry. He is also known as the 'father of the modern Sri Lankan apparel industry', as he was instrumental in making the country one of the global leaders in the apparel industry. He is still regarded as one of the pioneers of American fashion retail sector. He died on 12 September 2019 at his home at the age of 84 in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, US.

Early life

Martin was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1934 in a middle class family. He joined his father Max Trust on his bread truck routes, delivering bread from the factories to restaurants.

Career

He received his Bachelor's degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, and ...

from the

Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

and after graduation, he decided to enter into the apparel industry. He co-founded the MAST Industries with small capital along with his wife in 1970, which later went onto become one of the important fashion industries in US. In 1978, Limited Brands acquired MAST Industries. He also introduced the

Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship The MIT Entrepreneurship Center is one of the largest research and teaching centers at the MIT Sloan School of Management, the business and management school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It was founded in the early 1990s and char ...

in 1990s which is a scholarship scheme to the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. Trust began working with the Sri Lankan textiles and apparel companies in 1985. Trust continued to work with those companies, establishing MAST Industries first joint venture with Sri Lanka's Omar Group (formerly called as LM Apparels, part of

Brandix Brandix Apparel Limited is an apparel manufacturer headquartered in Sri Lanka. It is considered to be the leading apparel manufacturing firm in the country. The company has branches in the United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia, Sing ...

) in 1986. In 1987, the MAST Industries under Trust's leadership established another joint venture with Amalean Group of Sri Lanka. Trust invested in over twenty different businesses in Sri Lanka over a period of thirty years, which enabled the growth in the Sri Lankan economy. In 1994, the

Government of Sri Lanka The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the is ...

honored him by awarding the title,

Sri Lanka Ranjana The Sri Lanka Ranjana ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රන්ජන) is a national honour of Sri Lanka for foreigners or non nationals, awarded "for distinguished service of highly meritorious nature". Awardees Awardees include: ;2005 * Baik ...

, for his outstanding and active involvement in the development of the country’s apparel industry. He also founded Trust Family Industries in 2001 and launched Brandot International in the same year.

Personal life

He met Diane, who was later known as Dena, Kagen in 1957, and they married three years later.

Legacy

In 2011, the

(MIT) honored him by giving new services in respect of him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trust, Martin 1934 births 2019 deaths American businesspeople Sri Lankan businesspeople People from Brownsville, Brooklyn People from Brooklyn 20th-century American philanthropists