Max Webb (March 2, 1917 – October 23, 2018) was a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

-born American real estate developer and philanthropist from

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. A

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

survivor born to a Jewish family, he was the co-founder of one of the largest real estate development companies in Southern California. He supported charitable causes in the United States and

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 ...

Early life

Webb was born on March 2, 1917, in

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

,Laura Coleman, 'Beverly Hills Elder: Max Webb, Voice for Israel, Businessman', ''

The Beverly Hills Courier ''The Beverly Hills Courier'' is a free weekly tabloid-sized print newspaper of circulation in Beverly Hills and the surrounding communities, and a daily web newspaper. History The publication was founded by March Schwartz in 1965. His staff inc ...

'', April 10, 2015, pp. 1; 2

/ref>David Suissa
Max Webb, one second at a time
''

The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles ''The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles'', known simply as the ''Jewish Journal'', is an independent, nonprofit community weekly newspaper serving the Jewish community of greater Los Angeles, published by TRIBE Media Corp. ''The Journal'' wa ...

'', October 14, 2014.Tel Aviv University: Anna and Max Webb
to a Jewish family. He was one of seven children and had a twin sister. Collectively, he had five sisters and one brother. He grew up in a poor family and stopped going to school at an early age to take odd jobs and support family needs. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he was deported to the

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

in 1943. It was there that he met his future brother-in-law,

Nathan Shapell Nathan Shapell (March 7, 1922 – March 11, 2007) was a Polish-born American survivor of The Holocaust, as well as a real estate developer whose Shapell Industries was one of the largest real estate companies in California; he was also a philanthr ...

. Webb also survived the Death March 1944, as well as twelve labor camps and six concentration camps. However, both his parents as well as four of his sisters were murdered by the Nazis. Webb was liberated on May 8, 1945.

Career

Shortly after his liberation, Webb moved to

Münchberg Münchberg is a small town in Upper Franconia (Bavaria), Germany. It is sometimes referred to as the ''Textile Town of Bavaria''. Its sister city is Jefferson City, Missouri, United States. Geography The town districts History The first set ...

with Nathan Shapell, where they established a textile business. In 1951, he stayed on

Coney Island Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...

for ten months to get a visa for the United States. By 1952, he moved to Los Angeles with his wife and brother-in-law, and started a career in real estate development. Webb established a real estate development company with his two brothers-in-law, Nathan and David Shapell. It was first known as S&S Construction, later Shapell Industries, followed by Shapell & Webb. In 1971, they moved into an office on the corner of

Wilshire Boulevard Wilshire Boulevard is a prominent boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue in the Financial District of downtown Los Angeles. One of the principal ...

and

San Vicente Boulevard San Vicente Boulevard is a major northwest-southeast thoroughfare located in the western portion of the metropolitan area of Los Angeles, CA. The boulevard begins at Venice Boulevard between Crenshaw Boulevard and La Brea Avenue and travels in ...

. After his brothers-in-law died, he retained the office. The company became one of the largest real estate development companies in Southern California.

Philanthropy

Webb made charitable contributions to 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 ...

in Los Angeles. He was a founding donor of the

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust hi ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

He endowed a chair for

David Wolpe David J. Wolpe (born 1958) is the Max Webb Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple. He previously taught at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America in New York, the American Jewish University in Los Angeles, Hunter College, and UCLA. Wolpe became the ...

, the Senior Rabbi of Sinai Temple. In December 2007, he purchased a plot of land on

Pico Boulevard Pico may refer to: Places The Moon * Mons Pico, a lunar mountain in the northern part of the Mare Imbrium basin Portugal * Pico, a civil parish in the municipality of Vila Verde * Pico da Pedra, a civil parish in the municipality of Ribei ...

to erect a building home to two Jewish organizations in Los Angeles, IKAR and the Progressive Jewish Alliance (PJA).Naomi Glauberman
Webb’s progressive center gift inspired by family’s future
''The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles'', January 25, 2007 With his second wife Anna, Webb endowed the Max Webb Family School of Languages Building and the Anna and Max Webb Chair for Visiting Scholars in Yiddish at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) ( he, אוּנִיבֶרְסִיטַת תֵּל אָבִיב, ''Universitat Tel Aviv'') is a public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Locate ...

. They are the recipients of honorary doctorates from Tel Aviv University and

Bar Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, he, אוניברסיטת בר-אילן, ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic i ...

. Bar Ilan’s Psychology Building is also named after him, as well as a street in

Giv'at Shmuel Giv'at Shmuel ( he, גִּבְעַת שְׁמוּאֵל, , Samuel's Hill) is a city in the Center District of Israel. It is located in the eastern part of the Gush Dan Metropolitan Area and bordered by Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak to the West, Kiryat ...

. In 2013, Webb featured in a fundraising video for Tel Aviv University alongside other prominent Jewish philanthropists from Los Angeles

Guilford Glazer Guilford Glazer (July 17, 1921 – December 23, 2014) was an American real estate developer and philanthropist. Early life Glazer was born to a Jewish immigrant family Jona Goldrich Jona Goldrich (born Jona Goldreich; September 11, 1927 – June 26, 2016) was an American real estate developer and philanthropist. Born in Lviv, he emigrated to Israel in the midst of World War II, where he served in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War ...

and

Izak Parviz Nazarian Izak Parviz Nazarian ( ''Is'ḥaq Parvêz Nazariyân''; February 24, 1929 – August 23, 2017) was an Iranian-born American billionaire, businessman, investor, real-estate developer, and philanthropist. He was the managing partner of Omninet Capit ...

.Rabbi David Wolpe
Men who made a mark that will endure
''The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles'', June 12, 2013

Personal life

Webb was married twice. He first married Sara Shapell in 1946. They had two daughters, Chara and Rose. After his first wife died, he married Anna Hitter, a businesswoman, in 1993. Webb was a member of Sinai Temple, a Conservative synagogue in Los Angeles. He attended services at Congregation Beth Israel on

Beverly Boulevard Beverly Boulevard is one of the main east–west thoroughfares in Los Angeles, in the U.S. state of California. It begins off Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California, Beverly Hills and ends on the Lucas Avenue overpass near downtown ...

. Having turned 100 in March 2017, Webb died at

in Los Angeles, California, on October 23, 2018. He was 101.

References

External links

Tel Aviv University American Friends: "Passing the Torch: Max Webb"
July 3, 2013 {{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Max 1917 births 2018 deaths American centenarians American company founders American real estate businesspeople Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Jewish American philanthropists Men centenarians People from Beverly Hills, California People from Łódź People from Los Angeles Philanthropists from California Polish centenarians Polish emigrants to the United States Tel Aviv University people Shapell family 20th-century American philanthropists 21st-century American Jews