Hershey Friedman
Born1950
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
NationalityCanadian
Occupation(s)Businessman, philanthropist
SpouseRaisy Stuhl
Children6
Parent(s)Yisroel D. and Elza Friedman
RelativesTwo older brothers[1]

Hershey Friedman (born 1950) is a Canadian billionaire businessman and philanthropist. His business concerns span the plastics packaging business and kosher meat in North America as well as luxury real estate development and Jewish books in Israel.

Early life

Hershey Friedman was born in 1950 in Montreal, Quebec.[1] His parents owned a textile company.[1] His father was paralysed in a car accident in 1960, when Friedman was ten years old.[1] He has two brothers.[1]

Friedman was raised as an Orthodox Jew.[2] He was educated at Yeshivas Ner Yisroel near Baltimore, USA, and Beit Shraga in Monsey, New York.[1] He later studied the law and accounting in Montreal.[1]

Career

Friedman started his career by working for his family textile company. By 1982, he acquired a plastics packaging business. By 2014, Friedman told The Jerusalem Post, "we are the largest in North America, packaging Hershey’s chocolates, Pepsi, Nestle, Elle Candy, the famous Entenmann’s donuts, McCain’s fries, as well as larger and smaller companies internationally and locally. We’re also probably the largest bread-bag producer."[1]

Friedman purchased Azorim [HE], a real estate development company which builds luxury apartments in Israel, from Shaya Boymelgreen in 2009-2011.[1][2][3] The company built the Beeri-Nehardea Tower; it also planned to build the Elite Tower, but the project was discontinued.[4]

Friedman purchased Agriprocessors, a kosher meat company based in Iowa, USA in 2009.[2] Shortly after, he renamed it Agri Star Meat and Poultry.[2] All employees are E-Verified.[2]

Friedman is the co-owner of "Dun & Bradstreet, Fourier, which produces solutions for scientific education, and CVD, a development company."[1]

Friedman is a billionaire.[1][2]

Philanthropy

Friedman is a philanthropist who contributes to charities, hospitals and yeshivas. He also invests heavily in funding large-scale projects of publishing holy seforim and is the chief patron of the Babylonian Talmud (Vilna Edition Shas), the Jerusalem Talmud, Shulchan Aruch and Mishna Berura published by the Oz Vehadar institute. These editions are called 'Friedman edition'.[1][5][6] The cost of the Babylonian Talmud project was over $20 million.[7]

Personal life

Friedman married Raisy Stuhl in Montreal in 1975, and they have six married children, all of whom work for his businesses.[1]

Friedman resides in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[2] He spends one week a month in Israel, and always stays at the Hilton Tel Aviv.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Linde, Steve (January 30, 2014). "The Man with the Midas Touch. Businessman and philanthropist Hershey Friedman talks to the 'Post' about the secrets of his success". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Hielman, Uriel (January 21, 2016). "Orthodox billionaire Hershey Friedman: Why I bought scandal-plagued kosher meat giant Agriprocessors". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
  3. ↑ Rochvarger, Michael (March 1, 2011). "Hershey Friedman Snags Azorim: Businessman beat out Fishman and Arison". Haaretz. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
  4. ↑ Elis, Niv (September 26, 2013). "Azorim marketing apartments with hotel service in Jerusalem". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved January 24, 2016.
  5. ↑ "מהדורת פרידמן": פרופיל לדמותו של "הבונה ממונטריאול" הערשי פרידמן"". כל הזמן (in Hebrew). 27 March 2017.
  6. ↑ "Oz Vehadar Expands". The 5 Towns Jewish Times. 5 April 2013. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  7. ↑ "עשרים שנות יצירה". Oz Vehadar (in Hebrew). Retrieved 11 July 2019.
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