Dr. Harry Radzyner z"l
Dr. Harry Radzyner was the first to respond to Prof. Uriel Reichman’s challenge to establish Reichman University. He was the first to contribute to IDC Herzliya in the days when it was merely a dream and a vacant army base. Dr. Radzyner has been a member of the IDC Herzliya Board of Directors since its inception and was named an honorary fellow of Reichman University in May 2004. Dr. Radzyner spent World War II in the Lodz Ghetto, the besieged city of Dresden, and the Auschwitz, Stutthof, and Theresienstadt concentration camps. After the war, Dr. Radzyner’s father sent him to New York, where he attended the Forest Hills High School and then the School of Technology of the City University of New York.
Dr. Radzyner graduated at the top of his class in mechanical engineering and began working at Bell Telephone Laboratories. Following a vacation in Europe, where he met his future wife, he returned to Germany and opened his own business there. He went into jewelry manufacturing and distribution, ultimately becoming one of the largest outfitters in Germany.
Dr. Radzyner’s ties to Israel root date back to the nineteenth century, when his great-great-grandfather made aliyah along with one of his sons, establishing a branch of the Radzyner family in Israel. Dr. Harry Radzyner has been visiting Israel with his wife on a regular basis since 1958.
Dr. Radzyner is very active in the affairs of the Jewish communities in Dusseldorf and Mallorca, serving as an honorary member of the board of each community. He is also on the board of various committees of the local Jewish community in Germany, B’nei Brith, and Magbit. Dr. Radzyner is active in the German-American Chamber of Commerce and is a member of the Club of Industry in Dusseldorf. He is an honorary senator of Heinrich Heine University of Dusseldorf.
In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the future of the State of Israel and the Jewish People, Harry Radzyner was named an Honorary Fellow of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in 2005.