Harold J. Schnitzer (June 8, 1923 – April 27, 2011) was an American businessman, civic leader, and philanthropist. Schnitzer is best remembered for having made over $80 million in charitable gifts over the course of his lifetime, including the establishment of the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies at

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decad ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

and at the

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc, and its co-founder, billion ...

Biography

Early years

Harold Schnitzer was born in 1923 to Rose and Sam Schnitzer, ethnic

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 ...

émigrés from

Tsarist Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

.Paul Haist
"Harold Schnitzer Passes from Scene,"
''Jewish Review,'' vol. 53, no. 20 (May 1, 2011), pp. 1, 30. Harold was the fifth of seven children of the couple. The elder Schnitzer was in the scrap metal business, beginning the Alaska Junk Company. Harold anticipated entering the steel industry from an early age, studying metallurgy at

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 ...

, from which he graduated in 1944. Following graduation, Schnitzer served a stint in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

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 opposing ...

as an ordnance specialist."Harold Schnitzer: 1923–2011,"
University of Oregon Foundation, giving.uoregon.edu/

Career

After the war, Schnitzer entered the family business,

Schnitzer Steel Industries Schnitzer Steel Industries, Inc. is a steel manufacturing and scrap metal recycling company headquartered in Portland, Oregon. History Schnitzer Steel was founded by Russian immigrant Sam Schnitzer in 1906 as a one-person scrap metal recycler. B ...

, for a time. He did not wish to compete with his four brothers in the company, however, so in 1950 Harold Schnitzer decided to shift gears, selling his share of the business to provide capital for a new enterprise.Legacy of Portland's Harold Schnitzer Extended from Real Estate to Wide-Ranging Philanthropy,"
''The Oregonian,'' April 27, 2011; updated April 28, 2011. The new enterprise founded was a real estate investment company known as Harsch Investment Properties. The name of the firm, Harsch, derived from the first three letters of Harold Schnitzer's first and last names. Schnitzer began his career as a

real estate developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re- lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to othe ...

with the purchase of an old warehouse in downtown Portland and its conversion into office space. Over the years Schnitzer's company grew to the point where it owned 130 properties with of rentable commercial space in five western states, as well as more than 1,000 apartments. At the time of his death, Harsch Investment Properties employed 225 people.

Charitable giving

From 1993 until his death in 2011, Harold Schnitzer and his wife Arlene were responsible for $80 million in charitable giving to a wide range of projects. Some of these projects included the refurbishing of the

Portland Art Museum The Portland Art Museum in Portland, Oregon, United States, was founded in 1892, making it one of the oldest art museums on the West Coast and seventh oldest in the US. Upon completion of the most recent renovations, the Portland Art Museum beca ...

, the creation of th
Harold Schnitzer Diabetes Health Center
at

Oregon Health and Science University Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, the restoration of what is today known as the

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall The Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall (opened as the Portland Publix Theatre before becoming the Paramount Theatre after 1930) is a historic theater building and performing arts center in Portland, Oregon, United States. Part of the Portland Cent ...

in Portland, and the establishment of the

endowed A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are of ...

Harold Schnitzer Program in Judaic Studies at Portland State University and the University of Oregon. Other prominent Oregon institutions supported by the Schnitzer family through the Harold and Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation included the

Oregon Zoo The Oregon Zoo, originally the Portland Zoo and later the Washington Park Zoo, is a zoo located in Washington Park, Portland, Oregon, approximately southwest of downtown Portland. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest zoo west of the Mississippi R ...

and

Oregon Public Broadcasting Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) is the primary television and radio public broadcasting network for most of the U.S. state of Oregon as well as southern Washington. OPB consists of five full-power television stations, dozens of VHF or UHF tra ...

."The Harold & Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation Make $1.5 Million Gift to OPB,"
Oregon Public Broadcasting, pressroom.opb.org/ September 17, 2007. Schnitzer was also a financial supporter of such cultural institutions as the

Oregon Symphony The Oregon Symphony is an American symphony orchestra based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded as the 'Portland Symphony Society' in 1896, it is the sixth oldest orchestra in the United States, and oldest in the Western United States. I ...

, the

Portland Opera Portland Opera is an American opera company based at The Hampton Opera Center in Portland, Oregon. Its performances take place in the Keller Auditorium and Newmark Theatre, both part of the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. Portland Opera ...

, and the Oregon Ballet, in addition to various educational and social service programs. Schnitzer was also a supporter of programs within Oregon's Jewish community, including the Mittleman Jewish Community Center, the Portland Jewish Academy, and an independent and assisted living facility for elders known as Rose Schnitzer Manor.

Death and legacy

Harold Schnitzer died April 27, 2011, in Portland, Oregon, following a two-year battle with abdominal cancer. Oregon Governor

John Kitzhaber John Albert Kitzhaber (born March 5, 1947) is an American former politician who served as the 35th governor of Oregon from 1995 to 2003, and as the 37th governor of Oregon from 2011 until his resignation in 2015. A member of the Democratic Part ...

recalled of Schnitzer that "he was incredibly easy to be around. He made you feel at ease. He was powerful and wealthy yet at ease. He didn't take himself that seriously." Schnitzer was remembered by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden as "one of those really rare individuals you call a vintage Oregonian.... who almost always says when you begin to talk to him, 'What can I do to help?'"

References

External links

Harsch Investment Properties homepage
www.harsch.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Schnitzer, Harold 1923 births 2011 deaths American businesspeople American people of Russian-Jewish descent Philanthropists from Oregon Jewish American philanthropists Jews and Judaism in Portland, Oregon 20th-century American philanthropists 21st-century American Jews