Dan David, a businessman and philanthropist whose foundation gives away $1 million prizes each year for merit in various fields, has died at the age of 82.
David’s son Ariel told The Associated Press that his father had suffered a brain hemorrhage and died Tuesday in a London hospital. David lived in Italy, Israel and Britain.
Born in Romania in 1929, David immigrated to Israel in 1960. He made his fortune developing automatic photo booth machines.
The Dan David Prize was endowed by the Dan David Foundation and headquartered at Tel Aviv University. Each year since 2002 it has given three $1 million prizes in dimensions of the “Past, Present and Future” in chosen themes to “individuals or institutions with proven, exceptional, distinct excellence in the sciences, arts, and humanities that have made an outstanding contribution to humanity on the basis of merit.” Award winners have included the directors Joel and Ethan Coen, Al Gore, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano, and writers Amos Oz and Margaret Atwood.
“He was an example of generosity through his philanthropy, showing how one can put his own success in business at the service of scientific research and cultural progress,” said Rome’s Mayor Gianni Alemanno.
