Donald Aronow
| Donald Aronow | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 3, 1927 Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | February 3, 1987 (aged 59) Miami, Florida, U.S. |
| Nationality | United States |
| Occupation | Boat designer, builder and racer |
| Spouse(s) | Shirley Goldin (m. 19??; div. 19??) Lillian Crawford |
| Children | 5 |
Donald Joel Aronow (March 3, 1927 – February 3, 1987) was an American designer, builder and racer of the famous Magnum Marine, Cary, Cigarette, Donzi, and Formula speedboats. He built speedboats for the Shah of Iran, Charles Keating, Robert Vesco, Malcolm Forbes, and George H. W. Bush. Retired President Lyndon Johnson owned several 16 ft. Donzi speedboats on his Texas ranch with which he would race his Secret Service agents.
Aronow was born in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood of Brooklyn, the youngest son of Russian Jewish immigrants Herman and Ruth Aronow. He had two elder sisters, Sylvia and Lillian. His father owned a gas station and then a taxi company which collapsed during the Great Depression. He graduated a top athlete from James Madison High School in 1944, worked as a life guard at Coney Island, and enrolled at Brooklyn College. In 1945, he left school before completion and joined the merchant marine working overseas during the end of World War II. In 1947, he returned to the USA and completed his studies graduating from Brooklyn College in 1948, marrying his wife Shirley Goldin, who he had met while working as a lifeguard on Coney Island. in 1950 with a physical education degree earning letters in football, wrestling, and track.
After school, he worked as a physical education teacher for a time until he accepted a job at his with his father-in-law's southern New Jersey construction business which was booming thanks to demand from returning World War II veterans. In 1953, he established his own construction company, the Aronow Corporation which quickly became one of the largest construction companies in the state. In 1959, at age of 32, the now-millionaire Aronow moved to Miami with his family, where he began racing boats as a hobby.
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