GOTTESMAN

GOTTESMAN, U.S. family of philanthropists. MENDEL GOTTESMAN (1859–1942), industrialist, banker, and philanthropist, was born in Munkacs, Hungary, and immigrated to the United States in the 1880s. He was a pioneer in the paper and pulp industry, and later founded and became president of an investment banking company. Gottesman founded and supported several talmud torahs on the Lower East Side of New York, particularly between the 1890s and 1915, during which time he became associated with the forerunner of Yeshiva University, the Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary. In 1917 he organized the Gottesman Tree of Life Foundation, through which many of his charitable activities were carried out, including granting scholarships to Yeshiva University students. He served as treasurer of Yeshiva University for many years and as president of the Yeshiva Endowment Foundation, which he conceived and established, from 1928 to 1942. DAVID SAMUEL GOTTESMAN (1884–1956), merchant and financier, was born in Munkacs, Hungary, the son of Mendel Gottesman. He became his father's partner in the wood pulp industry and later developed his own companies in that business and in investment banking. In 1941 he established the D.S. and R.H. Gottesman Foundation to donate funds for higher education, local welfare, Jewish studies, and other causes. Among the foundation's charitable contributions were four Dead Sea Scrolls, purchased for the State of Israel in 1955, and the donations of funds in 1961 for the construction of the Shrine of the Book in Jerusalem to house the Dead Sea Scrolls; the building is now part of the Israel Museum. BENJAMIN GOTTESMAN (1897–1979), born in New York City, the son of Mendel Gottesman, carried on his father's work in both business and philanthropic association with Yeshiva University. A trustee of the university, he was vice president and treasurer of the Gottesman Tree of Life Foundation, one of the founders of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, president of the Yeshiva Foundation Endowment Inc., and chairman of the Investment and Endowment Committee. Gottesman also served on the Investment Advisory Committee of hadassah , of which his wife ESTHER GOTTESMAN (1899–1997), born in New York City, was national treasurer.