​Stanley Chais z"l

A devoted Zionist and international philanthropist, Stanley Chais was a life-long champion of Israel and the Jewish people through his support of higher education and Israel’s high-tech industry.

Growing up in New York during the Second World War, Stanley Chais was awakened to the plight of the Jewish people. He became dedicated to helping Jewish communities in need, and through the Chais Family Foundation, served and enriched Jewish enterprises on three continents.

Stanley Chais has made personal contributions to the Jewish community in America, while in the wider American community he has lent assistance to projects such as New York’s Central Park Conservancy. In Eastern Europe, Stanley Chais was key to the creation of the Chais Center for Jewish Studies at the eminent Moscow State University, a singular program which brings together Hebrew, English and Russian-speaking scholars to promote Jewish studies at the highest academic levels.

One of Israel’s greatest benefactors, Stanley Chais invested in no less than 50 start-ups, enabling many immigrants from the former Soviet Union to find employment and fitting avenues for their skills and talents.

Stanley Chais’s generosity has been felt by academic institutes across Israel. His gifts to Reichman University included the Chais Ethiopian Fellows program, which supports Ethiopian students, the annual Chais Family scholarships for outstanding computer science students and the state-of-the-art Chais Auditorium.

The Chais munificence can also be seen in the Pamela and Stanley Chais Project on Economics and Defense at Tel Aviv University, the Excellence Program at Haifa’s Technion Institute of Technology, the Chais Research Center for the Integration of Technology in Education at Ra’anana’s Open University, and the Stanley and Pamela Chais Public Library in Mevasseret Zion.

A member of the Weizmann Institute’s Board of Governors and Executive Council, Stanley Chais contributed to the world of scientific research and to the development of tomorrow’s scientific leaders through the Chais Family Fellows Program for New Scientists, the Chais Family Exploration Camp for Science, Music and Art, and the Science Mobile.

Stanley Chais received an honorary doctorate from Hebrew University in honor of his many philanthropic activities and his contribution to the university. He also received an honorary doctorate from the Weizmann Institute, and is an honorary fellow of both the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and the Open University.

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the future of the State of Israel and the Jewish People, Stanley Chais was named an Honorary Fellow of Reichman University in 2007.