Raphael Recanati

{{Short description|Greek-born Israeli-American businessman, banker, and philanthropist}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Raphael Recanati

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| birth_date = February 12, 1924

| birth_place = Salonika, Greece

| death_date = May 28, 1999

| death_place = New York City, U.S.

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| nationality = Israel; United States

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| occupation = Businessman, banker, philanthropist

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| spouse = {{marriage|Dina Hettena|1946|end=died, his}}{{cite web | url=http://www.dinarecanati.com/bio.html | title=系统发生错误 }}

| children = 2, including Michael Recanati (son)

| father = Leon Yehuda Recanati

| relatives = Leon Recanati (nephew)

}}

Raphael Recanati (1924–1999) was a Greek-born Israeli-American businessman, banker, and philanthropist. He was the founder and chairman of the Overseas Shipholding Group. He was the chairman of the Israel Discount Bank from 1982 to 1986.

Early life and education

Recanati was born in Salonika, Greece,{{cite news|last1=Saxon|first1=Wolfgang|title=Raphael Recanati, Philanthropist, Dies at 75|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/02/world/raphael-recanati-philanthropist-dies-at-75.html|accessdate=March 7, 2016|work=The New York Times|date=June 2, 1999}}{{cite news|title=Obituaries: Raphael Recanati; Israeli Banker, Shipping Magnate|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jun-01-mn-43126-story.html|access-date=March 7, 2016|work=The Los Angeles Times|date=June 1, 1999}} the son of Leon Yehuda Recanati.{{cite book|author1=Alex Roland|author2=W. Jeffrey Bolster|author3=Alexander Keyssar|title=The Way of the Ship: America's Maritime History Reenvisoned, 1600-2000|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qf2QiRYXcdUC&pg=PA401|accessdate=9 March 2016|year=2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-470-13600-3|pages=401–402}} He immigrated to Mandatory Palestine with his family in 1935, where he was educated. Meanwhile, his father founded the Israel Discount Bank in 1935. Recanati served in the Palmach, when he helped bring Egyptian Jews into Palestine (modern-day Israel).{{Cite web|url=https://www.rallimuseums.com/en/Harry_Recanati|title = Harry Recanati | the Ralli Museums}}

Career

Recanati founded the Israel-America Shipping Line, later known as the Overseas Shipholding Group, in 1948. He served as its founding chairman. He subsequently served as the "chairman of its finance and development committee". In 1949 Recanati founded a subsidiary of his family bank in New York City known as the Israel Discount Bank of New York.

Recanati served as the managing director of his family bank, the Israeli Discount Bank, in 1965.{{cite news|title=15 Foreign Banks Have NY Headquarters|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/249006051/?terms=%22Raphael%2BRecanati%22|accessdate=March 9, 2016|work=Oshkosh Northwestern|date=March 20, 1965|location=Oshkosh, Wisconsin|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |page=23}} By then, the bank had an office in New York City. By 1970, he founded its investment banking subsidiary. He subsequently co-founded two more subsidiaries, the Discount Investment Corporation and the PEC Israel Economic Corporation New York. He served as the chairman of the Israel Discount Bank from 1982 to 1986.

In 1986, Recanati was suspended for three months by the Bank of Israel over a dispute in his role in the 1983 Israel bank stock crisis.{{cite news|title=Israeli Cabinet order banker suspended|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/64896707/?terms=%22Raphael%2BRecanati%22|accessdate=March 9, 2016|work=The San Bernardino County Sun|date=July 14, 1986|location=San Bernardino, California|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |page=3}} He was convicted and sentenced to an eight-month sentence in Jerusalem over allegations of fraud. One of five charges was quashed on appeal resulting in a suspended sentence.{{cite web|url=http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-375303|title=Mister Raphael|first=Elazar|last=Levin|date=31 May 1999|accessdate=23 December 2017|work=Globes}}

Personal life

Recanati married to Dina Hettena in 1946. They had two sons. They resided in Manhattan, New York, East Hampton, New York and in Herzliya Pituach in Israel. Recanati died of a heart failure in 1999.{{cite book|last1=Nitzan|first1=Jonathan|last2=Bichler|first2=Shimshon|title=The Global Political Economy of Israel: From War Profits to Peace Dividends|date=2001|publisher=Pluto Press|location=London, United Kingdom|isbn=9780745316758|page=306|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vBWFd4vYxDMC&q=Raphael+Recanati+1999&pg=PA306|oclc=225932782}} He was seventy-five years old.{{cite news|title=Raphael Recanati|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/12770761/?terms=%22Raphael%2BRecanati%22|accessdate=March 9, 2016|work=The Daily Herald|date=June 6, 1999|location=Chicago, Illinois|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |page=17}}

=Philanthropy=

Recanati made large charitable contributions to the Beth Israel Medical Center, a hospital based in New York City where the Recanati Cardiology Research Fund and the Recanati/Horowitz Cardiology Diagnostic Research Fund was named in his honor. He also endowed the Recanati/Miller Transplantation Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital.{{cite web|title=The Recanati / Miller Transplantation Institute|url=http://www.mountsinai.org/patient-care/service-areas/organ-transplants|website=Mount Sinai Hospital|accessdate=March 9, 2016}} Further donations went to the UJA-Federation of New York.

Recanati endowed the Recanati Israel Student Exchange Fellowships at Yeshiva University, where he was a guardian. He also endowed the Recanati course at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. Additionally, he endowed the Dina and Raphael Recanati Professorship in Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, which is held by Dr. Jerome Groopman.{{cite web|title=Dina and Raphael Recanati Professor of Medicine|url=https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/display/1200158|website=Harvard Catalyst|publisher=Harvard University|accessdate=March 9, 2016|archive-date=March 9, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309203012/https://connects.catalyst.harvard.edu/Profiles/display/1200158|url-status=dead}}

In Israel, Recanati served on the boards of trustees of the Weizmann Institute of Science, the American Friends of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and the American Friends of Tel Aviv University, where he endowed the Recanati School of Business. He also endowed the Raphael Recanati Genetic Institute at the Beilinson Hospital, in the Petah Tikva-based Rabin Medical Center.{{cite web|title=The Raphael Recanati Genetic Institute - Beilinson|url=http://hospitals.clalit.co.il/Hospitals/Rabin/en-us/DEPARTMENTS%20AND%20INSTITUTES/Genetics/The-Raphael-Recanati-Genetic-Institute-Beilinson/Pages/Raphael-Recanati-Genetic-Institute-Beilinson.aspx|website=Rabin Medical Center|accessdate=March 11, 2016}} The Raphael Recanati International School at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya was named in his honor.{{cite web|title=Raphael Recanati (1924–1999)|url=http://portal.idc.ac.il/en/schools/rris/the_shcool/pages/raphaelrecanati.aspx|website=IDC Herziya|accessdate=March 7, 2016}}