Dan David

Dan David (Hebrew: דן דוד‎‎; ‎23 May 1929 – 6 September 2011) was a Romanian-born Israeli businessman and philanthropist.

Dan David was born to a Jewish family in Bucharest, Romania. He joined a Zionist youth movement at the age of 16. After studying economics at university, he worked for Romanian television and became a press photographer. In 1958, his newspaper asked him to travel to West Germany on an assignment. When he requested an exit permit, he was accused of being a Zionist activist and was fired from his job.

He left Romania for Paris in August 1960, later settling in Israel. The following year, he traveled to Europe. With a $200,000 loan from a cousin, he won the franchise for Photo-Me International automated photography booths in certain countries. He opened branches in Israel, Spain, Romania and Italy, eventually taking over the company. When David was chairman of Photo-Me in 1999, his and board-member Serge Crasnianski's shares were valued at 210 and 200 million pounds, respectively.

David died in London on 6 September 2011.

In 2000, David founded the Dan David Foundation with a $100 million endowment. The First Director of the Dan David Prize was Professor Gad Barzilai. The Foundation, together with Tel Aviv University, awards the Dan David Prize (first awarded in 2002), which consists of annual awards of three prizes of $1 million each awarded to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution in the fields of science, technology, culture or social welfare.

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