Background
David Shapell was born as David Czapelski on February 4, 1921 in Wolbrom, a shtetl in Poland. His father was a goose farmer.
- Photos
- Works
- Photos
- Works
David Shapell
Edit ProfileCareer
He supported Jewish charitable causes in the United States and Israel. During World World War II, he was sent to Soviet labour camps and later served in the Soviet Army against the Nazis. Shortly after the war, he lived in Germany, and emigrated to the United States in the early 1950s.
lieutenant became known as Shapell Industries, one of the largest developers in Southern California.
lieutenant was acquired by Toll Brothers in 2013. He also endowed the Darche Noam yeshiva and the Midreshet Rachel women"s seminary in Jerusalem.
In 2006, he made a donation for the establishment of the David and Fela Shapell Family Shoah and Heroism Study Center for Youth at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. Through the David and Fela Shapell Family Foundation, he has also endowed the David and Fela Shapell Digitalization Project at the National Library of Israel in Jerusalem.
He has also endowed the David and Fela Shapell Family Center for Genetic Disorders Research at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.
He served on the Board of Trustees of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Los Angeles In 2013, he made a donation of $15 million to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, District of Columbia, where The David and Fela Shapell Family Collections and Conservation Center is named in his honor. During those visits, they said Jewish prayers, also known as Kaddish, and lit candles in their memory.
He died on February 8, 2015 in Israel.
He was ninety-four years old. He was buried at the Eretz Chamaim Cemetery near Beit Shemesh.
