Nathan Shapell
{{Short description|Polish-born American survivor of The Holocaust, real estate developer and philanthropist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Nathan Shapell
| image =
| caption =
| birth_name = Nathan Schapelski
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1922|3|7}}
| birth_place = Poland
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2007|3|11|1922|3|7}}
| death_place = Beverly Hills, California, U.S.
| death_cause =
| resting_place = Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery
| resting_place_coordinates =
| nationality =
| other_names =
| known_for = co-founder of Shapell Industries
| education =
| employer =
| occupation = Real Estate developer, philanthropist
| title =
| term =
| predecessor =
| successor =
| party =
| boards =
| spouse = Lilly Schreiber
| children = Vera Shapell Guerin
| parents =
| relatives = David Shapell (brother)
Sala Shapell (sister)
Max Webb (brother-in-law)
Paul Guerin (son-in-law)
}}
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 philanthropist.
Early life and education
Nathan Schapelski was born on March 7, 1922, in Poland.Valerie J. Nelson, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2007-mar-13-me-shapell13-story.html Nathan Shapell, 85; builder who developed Porter Ranch was also noted philanthropist], The Los Angeles Times, March 13, 2007Jeremy Sharon [http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/David-Shapell-philanthropist-and-Holocaust-survivor-dies-at-age-94-390731], The Jerusalem Post, February 11, 2017[http://www.jewishjournal.com/obituaries/article/nathan_shapell_real_estate_developer_and_philanthropist_85_20070312 Nathan Shapell, real estate developer and philanthropist, 85], The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, March 11, 2007Gabe Fuentes, [https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-02-12-fi-3181-story.html Builder-Activist Nathan Shapell Is Driven to Develop Some Big Ideas], The Los Angeles Times, February 12, 1989Michael Kinsman, [https://web.archive.org/web/20150212190516/http://legacy.utsandiego.com/news/obituaries/20070325-9999-lz1j25shapell.html Nathan Shapell; residential developer, pioneer in downtown transformation], U-T San Diego, March 25, 2007 He was a teenager during Nazi Germany's Invasion of Poland. His mother was deported to the Targowa ghetto. He was deported to the Buchenwald and Auschwitz concentration camps, and managed to escape the latter. After the war, he built housing for homeless Jews in Münchberg, Germany.{{Cite web |url=http://www.mychf.org/go/hall-of-fame/past-honorees/shapell-nathan1/ |title=California Homebuilding Foundation |access-date=2013-04-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150212191542/http://www.mychf.org/go/hall-of-fame/past-honorees/shapell-nathan1/ |archive-date=2015-02-12 |url-status=dead }}
Career
Shapell moved to Los Angeles, California, with his wife in 1952, after reading about it in Life magazine, and they decided to stay. By 1955, together with his brother David and brother-in-law Max Webb, he co-founded Shapell Industries, a real estate development company. He served as its chairman and chief executive officer.[http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=22758018&privcapId=941559&previousCapId=941559&previousTitle=Shapell%20Industries,%20Inc. Bloomberg BusinessWeek]{{dead link|date=April 2023|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} The company's first large development was El Dorado Park Estates in Long Beach, California.{{cite web |title=El Dorado Park - The Hayward Team The Hayward Team |url=http://www.haywardteam.com/neighborhoods/el-dorado-park/ |date=20 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230320090438/http://www.haywardteam.com/neighborhoods/el-dorado-park/ |archive-date=20 March 2023 }}
Shapell developed the MGM ranch in Thousand Oaks, California, the residential community of Kite Hill in Laguna Niguel, California, the East Lake development in Yorba Linda, and Promenade Towers, a 510-unit project in Downtown Los Angeles. In the late 1980s, he developed Porter Ranch, California, adding commercial buildings to the residential community.
With Jona Goldrich and Sol B. Kest, Shapell developed some buildings in the Bunker Hill area of Downtown Los Angeles, including Promenade Towers, Grand Promenade and the California Plaza.{{cite news|last1=Furlong|first1=Tom|title=Developer Jona Goldrich : Deal Maker Transforms Downtown L.A.|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-08-17-fi-16773-story.html|access-date=June 30, 2016|work=The Los Angeles Times|date=August 17, 1986}}
From 1969 to 1984, Shapell Industries was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Pacific Stock Exchange. He built over 65,000 houses in California.
Philanthropy
Shapell served as a past president and Executive Board Member of the Academy of Achievement.{{cite web|title= Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement |website=www.achievement.org|publisher=American Academy of Achievement|url=https://achievement.org/our-history/golden-plate-awards/#business}} He also served on the Little Hoover Commission from 1975 to 1994. He also founded and Co-Chaired Building a Better Los Angeles, which raised US$1 million for homeless people in Los Angeles. In 1980, he was Chairman of California's Task Force on Affordable Housing. In 1987, he became President of Drug Abuse Resistance Education, an anti-drug non-profit organization in the United States. He served on President Ronald Reagan's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control. In 1992, Governor Pete Wilson appointed him to the California Competitiveness Council to help boost the economy. In 1998, Senate President Pro-Tem Bill Lockyer appointed him to a commission to help alleviate California's overcrowding of prisons. He was one of the founders of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and was appointed by President George H. W. Bush and reappointed twice by President Bill Clinton to its governing council.
Shapell donated to the Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust,[https://www.yadvashem.org/sites/default/files/yv_magazine45.pdf Nathan Shapell z”l], in Yad Vashem Jerusalem, quarterly magazine, vol. 45, spring 2007, p. 19 the University of Santa Clara, the University of Southern California, as well as Tel Aviv University and Bar-Ilan University in Israel. He also supported the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the D.A.R.E. program, and the Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services. He received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Santa Clara in 1986 and from Tel Aviv University in 1987. He was a strong supporter of Israel, and he traveled to the frontlines to show his support to the Israel Defense Forces during the Sinai War, the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War.
Personal life
Shapell lived in Beverly Hills, California. He was married to Lilly Schreiber, who died in 1994. She was also an Auschwitz survivor and worked as an interpreter at several of the war crimes trials.[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-10-22-mn-53173-story.html Los Angeles Times: "Lilly Shapell; Holocaust Survivor, Author"] October 22, 1994 They had a daughter, Vera Guerin. She married a gentile, Paul Guerin, over her father's objections.[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-14/auschwitz-survivor-s-daughter-becomes-billionaire-on-toll.html Bloomberg: "Auschwitz Survivor’s Daughter Becomes Billionaire" By Seth Lubove & John Gittelsohn] November 14, 2013 Vera inherited her father’s 43 percent stake in Shapell Industries.
Death and legacy
Shapell died on March 11, 2007, and he was buried in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, a Jewish cemetery in Culver City, California.
In November 2013, Toll Brothers purchased the Shapell Homes housebuilding division of Shapell Industries for $1.6 billion; his daughter Vera's share was $690 million.[http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2013/11/07/toll-brothers-to-buy-shapell-homes-for-16b-4q-revenue-soars/ Fox Business: "Toll Brothers to Buy Shapell Homes for $1.6B, 4Q Revenue Soars" By Matthew Rocco] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110233645/http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2013/11/07/toll-brothers-to-buy-shapell-homes-for-16b-4q-revenue-soars/ |date=2013-11-10 }} November 07, 2013 Vera still retains a 43 percent interest in the remainder of Shapell industries which includes over 10,000 apartments, five shopping centers, and four office buildings worth an additional $1.7 billion.
The Nathan Shapell Memorial Highway in Los Angeles, California, is named in his honor, along with a park in Yorba Linda and the football field of Yorba Linda High School.[http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=%22Nathan+Shapell%22&hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.45645796,bs.1,d.ZWU&biw=1366&bih=639&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl Google Maps]
Bibliography
- {{cite book|last1=Shapell|first1=Nathan|title=Witness to the Truth|date=1974|publisher=McKay|location=New York|isbn=9780679504566|oclc=979043|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/witnesstotruth00nath}}
References
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Category:Buchenwald concentration camp survivors
Category:Auschwitz concentration camp survivors
Category:Jewish escapees from Nazi concentration camps
Category:Polish emigrants to the United States
Category:Businesspeople from Beverly Hills, California
Category:American real estate and property developers
Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent
Category:American real estate company founders
Category:20th-century American philanthropists