KLABIN

KLABIN, Brazilian family. The founder, MAURÍCIO (1860–1923), born in Posvol, Lithuania, established himself in São Paulo in 1887. His brothers and other members of the family (named by marriage Lafer and Kadischevitz) followed later. In 1890 the firm Klabin Irmãos & Cia. was founded. The family began with a small paper factory (1906), followed by Cia. Fabricadora de Papel (1909) and in the paper and cellulose manufacturing line by Indústria Klabin do Paraná de Celulose S/A, in Monte Alegre (1941), the largest newsprint plant in Latin America. A factory specializing in corrugated cardboard opened in 1950, and, as a result of basic research in available raw material, the Papel & Celulose Catarinense plant followed in 1961. The family pioneered in the field of floriculture, planting eucalyptus and American pines, and also raised cattle. A small factory, Manufatura Nacional de Porcelana (acquired 1931), producing china and small insulators, became one of Latin America's largest tile-producing factories. In the synthetic textile field, the group acquired control of Cia. Brasileira de Sintéticos in São Paulo. Members of the family also pioneered in Jewish life. Mauricio was head of the budding Jewish community of São Paulo. Considered the first Zionist in the city, he was also the first Brazilian to sponsor a Jewish National Fund forest in Palestine. Together with his family, he donated the first modern synagogue to the community (Beth El), generally called the "Russian temple" or the "Klabin synagogue," and the first Jewish cemetery in the suburb of Vila Mariana, where the family had extensive land holdings. His wife, BERTA, was a founder of the first Jewish women's organization in São Paulo, Sociedade Beneficente das Damas Israelitas, in 1915. WOLFF KADISCHEVITZ-KLABIN developed many new sectors of the Klabin group and was active in Jewish activities in Rio de Janeiro. MIGUEL LAFER founded the Jewish school and college Renascença. (Alfred Hirschberg)