Shepard Broad
| Shepard Broad | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Szmuel Bobrowice July 8, 1906 Pinsk, Belarus |
| Died | November 6, 2001 (aged 95) Bay Harbor Islands, Florida |
| Occupation | Lawyer, Banker |
| Known for | created Bay Harbor Islands, Broad Causeway, American Savings and Loan |
Shepard Broad (July 8, 1906 – November 6, 2001) was a Belarusian-American banker, lawyer, and philanthropist.
Shepard Broad was born in Pinsk, Belarus as Szmuel Bobrowice. He trained as a tailor's apprentice, but Eastern Europe offered little opportunity to a young Jewish boy. At the age of 14, he joined the mass migration to North America. Hoping to land in New York, he ended up in Quebec. Canadian immigration authorities planned to send him back to Belarus, but his plight came to the attention of Adolph Stark, president of the Canadian-Jewish Immigration Society. Stark took him home. Stark offered to adopt the boy, but Broad was determined to find an uncle in New York. Stark gave him a train ticket and Broad made it to New York in 1920. He knew no English at the time.
Shepard Broad received his law degree from New York Law School in 1927, and he was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1928. From 1928 through 1940, Mr. Broad practiced law in New York City.
In August 1940, Mr. Broad was admitted to The Florida Bar and opened a law office in Miami Beach, Florida the next year. On January 1, 1946, he founded the law firm of Broad and Cassel, which continues to this day with offices throughout Florida.
In 1946, Mr. Broad helped organize the Bank of Hollywood Hills and the North Shore Bank of Miami Beach. The following year, he helped establish the American Savings and Loan Association of Florida. He subsequently served as president of the Mercantile National Bank of Miami Beach. He assisted in founding the Bank of Miramar, Florida.
He and 21 other Jewish men met in a New York City apartment in 1945 and agreed on an audacious plan to help create a homeland for the world's Jewish people. Among his colleagues: David Ben-Gurion, who later became Israel's first prime minister. As World War II drew to an end, Broad, Ben-Gurion and their colleagues met in New York City and created an underground infrastructure to raise funds for Israel, provide weapons for its eventual Israel War of Independence and help Holocaust survivors and others reach what was then called Palestine.
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