Jack Nash (businessman)

{{Short description|American businessman and investor (1929–2008)}}

{{Infobox person

|name=Jack Nash

|image=

|caption=

|birth_name = Jack Nachtgeist

|birth_date = {{Birth date|1929|4|10}}

|birth_place = Berlin, Germany

|death_date = {{Death date and age|2008|7|30|1929|4|10}}

|death_place = New York City, U.S.

|resting_place= Beth El Cemetery

|resting_place_coordinates=40.969595 N; 74.049812 W

|alma_mater = City College of New York

|occupation = financier

|known_for = Founder, The New York Sun
President, Oppenheimer & Company

|spouse = Helen Englander

|children = 2

}}

Jack Nash (April 10, 1929 – July 30, 2008) was a German-born American businessman and investor. He was president of Oppenheimer & Company and founded The New York Sun newspaper.

Early life and education

On April 10, 1929, Nash was born in Berlin as Jack Nachtgeist to Jewish parents. It is a family story that as a child, during a Nazi rally, he would not give the one-arm salute that demonstrated loyalty to the Reich.{{cite news |title=Jack Nash: Refugee who became a pioneer of the modern hedge fund and a prominent philanthropist |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3062747/Jack-Nash.html |access-date=21 October 2022 |work=Daily Telegraph |date=22 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080926033902/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/3062747/Jack-Nash.html |archive-date=26 September 2008 |url-status=unfit}}{{cbignore}} The family would later flee Nazi Germany prior to the onset of World War II.[http://www.nysun.com/obituaries/jack-nash-79-a-founder-of-odyssey-partners-and-sun/82955/ New York Sun, Jack Nash, A Founder of Odyssey Partners] Nash and his sister were sent to a Swiss boarding school by their parents for their own safety before later immigrating to the United States. There he attended Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, New York, and graduated from City College of New York in 1953.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

Investment career

Nash joined Oppenheimer & Company in 1951 and became its president in 1974. He was elected chairman in 1979. In 1982, he and business partner Leon Levy sold the company for $163 million, investing $50 million to start the hedge fund, Odyssey Partners. Nash was also a founder of The New York Sun[http://www.nysun.com/obituaries/jack-nash-79-a-founder-of-odyssey-partners-and-sun/82955/ "Jack Nash, 79, a Founder Of Odyssey Partners and Sun"], The New York Sun, 31 July 2008 and served as vice chairman of the board of the American Stock Exchange in the late 1970s.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

Personal life

Nash married Helen Englander in 1957, sister of billionaire investor Israel Englander. He and his wife donated millions to Jewish and other cultural and social charities. Although not Orthodox himself, Nash served as chairman of the Aleph Society, dedicated to promoting the works of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. Helen Nash has authored a line of kosher cookery books. They had two children, Joshua and Pamela, and six grandchildren.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E03E1DB143AF931A3575BC0A96E9C8B63 New York Times: "Paid Notice: Deaths NASH, JACK] August 2, 2008

Nash died on July 30, 2008, after a long illness, at Mount Sinai Medical Center.[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/02/business/02nash.html Obituary], The New York Times, 2 August 2008

Legacy and awards

In 2008, he was inducted into Institutional Investors Alpha's Hedge Fund Manager Hall of Fame along with Alfred Jones, Bruce Kovner, David Swensen, George Soros, James Simons, Julian Roberston, Kenneth Griffin, Leon Levy, Louis Bacon, Michael Steinhardt, Paul Tudor Jones, Seth Klarman and Steven A. Cohen.{{cite news|title=Cohen, Simons, 12 Others Enter Hedge Fund Hall|url=https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b18bl36h7n2yzt/cohen-simons-12-others-enter-hedge-fund-hall|accessdate=16 June 2019|agency=Institutional Investor LLC|publisher=Institutional Investor|date=23 September 2008|language=English|url-access=limited }}