Stef Wertheimer

Stef Wertheimer – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Stef Wertheimer (1926–2025) was an Israeli industrialist, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and former politician. This deep biography explores his journey from refugee to business magnate, his vision for economic peace, and his enduring impact.

Introduction

Stef (Ze’ev) Wertheimer was one of Israel’s most influential industrialists and a passionate advocate for development, coexistence, and economic opportunity. Born July 16, 1926, in Germany, he emigrated to Mandate Palestine with his family in 1937, and eventually founded ISCAR, a global metalworking tools company.

Unlike many who measure success merely by profit, Wertheimer’s life was motivated by a deeper ideal: that jobs, industry, and shared prosperity could help heal social divides. He also served in the Israeli Knesset and invested heavily in industrial parks—especially those bridging Jewish and Arab communities.

His life story is remarkable not just for financial success, but for the purpose behind it—and the legacy he left in a changing region.

Early Life and Family

Stef Wertheimer was born on July 16, 1926, in Kippenheim, Baden, Germany. 1937, when Stef was about 11, the Wertheimers emigrated to Palestine (then under British Mandate) to escape persecution.

In Palestine, the young Stef adapted to new surroundings. He attended the Tel-Nordau School in Tel Aviv, though he left formal schooling around age 14 and began working, including in a camera repair shop, while pursuing technical learning—particularly in optics under Professor Emanuel Goldberg.

His early upbringing was shaped by displacement, resilience, resourcefulness, and exposure to craftsmanship. These roots would influence his later belief in industry, skills training, and the dignity of labor.

Youth, War Service, and Early Career

In 1943, amid World War II, Wertheimer enlisted with the British Royal Air Force (RAF), serving as an optics technician—repairing and maintaining optical equipment in military aircraft. Palmach (the elite strike force of the pre-state Jewish community). He also served technical roles in the Haganah and in Israel’s War of Independence, working on weapons development, optics, and technical support.

Although his formal education was limited, Wertheimer’s technical skills, curiosity, and practical acumen were well established by his young adulthood. After independence, he briefly worked at Rafael (an Israeli defense firm) before striking out on his own.

Business, Innovation & Industrial Parks

Founding ISCAR

In 1952, Stef Wertheimer launched a small metal workshop in the backyard (or on the balcony) of his home in Nahariya, northern Israel, focusing on sharpening tools and metalworking. ISCAR, specializing in carbide industrial cutting tools used by major manufacturers worldwide.

Under Wertheimer’s leadership, ISCAR grew internationally, with subsidiaries in many countries.

In 2006, Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffett’s conglomerate) acquired 80% of ISCAR for about USD 4 billion. In 2013, Buffett purchased the remaining shares (~USD 2 billion), making ISCAR entirely part of Berkshire Hathaway’s portfolio.

At his death, various estimates placed his net worth in the billions (e.g. ~USD 7.6 billion by some estimates).

Industrial Parks & the “Marshall Plan for the Middle East”

Beyond his business ventures, Wertheimer is perhaps best known for founding industrial parks in Israel (and cross-border ideas).

He established parks in Tefen, Tel Hai, Dalton, Lavon, Nazareth, Omer, and a site in Turkey (Gebze) to name a few. exports, education, coexistence, community, and culture.

Wertheimer framed the industrial parks not simply as business hubs but as “pockets of peace”—spaces where Arab and Jewish citizens could work together, acquiring skills, incomes, and shared purpose, thus reducing social tensions.

He often advocated a “Marshall Plan for the Middle East”, arguing that a sustained investment in industry, trade, and human capital would be more durable than military or aid strategies in achieving stability.

His vision included placing industrial parks in border areas, promoting exports, training, and cooperation between populations.

In interviews, he commented, for example:

“When people work together, they have no time for nonsense.”

And he warned of overreliance on tech: “Tech is important, but … employ only dozens … manufacturing has a bigger impact on the job market.”

Political Career & Public Service

Though better known as an industrialist, Wertheimer also ventured into politics. In 1977, he was among the founding members of the Democratic Movement for Change (Dash), a centrist party in Israel. He won a Knesset seat in that election.

After Dash split, he joined Shinui and served until about 1981 when he resigned from formal politics.

While in the Knesset, he sat on economic committees, attempted to influence industrial and economic policy, and sought to integrate Arab communities into Israel’s economic fabric.

Eventually, he returned focus to business and social enterprise, believing that tangible creation (factories, jobs, parks) would be more lasting than political maneuvering.

Historical Context & Milestones

Wertheimer’s life paralleled dramatic transformations in Israel and the Middle East:

• The rise of Nazism and the Holocaust, triggering Jewish migration and the struggle for a homeland.

• The formation of Israel, successive wars, shifting geopolitics, and economic challenges.

• The global shift toward high tech and knowledge economies, which sometimes sidelined traditional manufacturing.

• The tension between ideological conflict and practical development approaches in Israeli–Arab relations.

Within this context, his insistence on industry, skills, coexistence, and cross-border economic interdependence was sometimes countercultural—especially in a region where narratives often centered on division, security, or ideology alone.

His industrial parks, in border or peripheral regions, were strategic as well as symbolic: providing infrastructure, opportunity, and connecting peripheral populations with the national economy.

The sale of ISCAR to Buffett was a landmark in Israeli business history: a signal that Israeli manufacturing and heavy industry had global value.

Legacy and Influence

Stef Wertheimer passed away on March 26, 2025, at age 98.

His legacy endures in multiple dimensions:

• Industrial parks and economic infrastructure: The parks he built continue to operate, providing jobs, training, and export linkages.

• Philanthropy & social mission: He invested his wealth back into communities, especially peripheral and Arab areas.

• Advocacy for peace through economics: His concept of leveraging shared work and prosperity as a path to reconciliation remains influential among thinkers and policymakers.

• Inspiration & model: His life story—from refugee child to industrialist—serves as a powerful narrative of resilience, vision, and purpose.

• Recognition & awards: He received the Israel Prize (1991) for contributions to society, the Oslo Business for Peace Award (2010), the Buber-Rosenzweig Medal, and the President’s Medal, among others.

His granddaughter Maya Wertheimer (an actress) publicly praised him as a moral and personal influence.

Stef’s life challenges us to see business not just as profit, but as a tool of empowerment, connection, and social transformation.

Personality, Philosophy & Strengths

Several personal qualities stood out through his life:

• Visionary pragmatism: He combined big ideas (peace through industry) with actionable, ground-level projects (industrial parks).

• Humbleness & groundedness: He remembered his modest beginnings, often emphasizing that early efforts—like running a shop from his home—were more meaningful than large financial exits.

• Bridge-building spirit: He deliberately built institutions that included Arabs, Jews, Druze, immigrants—seeking shared purpose across divides.

• Belief in work and dignity: He often framed work not merely as income, but as a way to give people purpose, stability, and belonging.

• Long-range persistence: His work unfolded over decades. Many of the industrial parks took years to build, and his ideological goals persisted even when challenged.

• Ethical mindset: While a businessman, he saw his wealth not as an end but a means to reinvest in society.

Famous Quotes of Stef Wertheimer

Here are several illustrative quotes that reflect his worldview and values:

“My purpose is to keep people busy and out of mischief — to create good and interesting jobs for them that help families stay together.”

“When people work together, they have no time for nonsense.”

“I believe that anybody who has to export, and who believes in skills, gets away from fighting about history.”

“Tech is important, but … they employ only dozens … manufacturing has a bigger impact on the job market.”

“For us to become a nation, everyone — including Arabs, Druze, ultra-Orthodox and new immigrants — must feel that they belong. Their success is extremely important to us.”

“The problem with our region is … there are places … where there is no work … instead of developing industry, they become dependent … this results in extremism.”

Lessons from Stef Wertheimer

From his life and work, we can distill several enduring lessons:

1. Purpose beyond profit
   Business driven by meaning—empowering communities, building relationships—can create deeper, more resilient impact.

2. Work as social stabilizer
   Jobs and constructive activity can act as a bulwark against conflict, idleness, and despair.

3. Invest in the periphery
   Opportunity concentrated in central regions often exacerbates inequality; spreading development to peripheral or marginalized areas can generate inclusive growth.

4. Bridge divides via shared goals
   Economic cooperation and shared goals can bring people together even where politics or identity divide.

5. Patient persistence
   Transformational change often requires decades, not quarters. Wertheimer’s industrial parks matured over long timelines.

6. Humility in success
   Wertheimer remained rooted in his early experiences, using them to stay grounded and socially conscious.

Conclusion

Stef Wertheimer’s life is a testament to how enterprise, vision, ethics, and perseverance can intersect to build not just successful businesses—but stronger societies. From escaping persecution, serving in war, founding a global industrial enterprise, to planting seeds of economic peace, his work spanned worlds of industry, policy, and human possibility.

He challenged conventional assumptions: that tech alone is the engine, that growth must centralize, or that conflict is inevitable. Instead, he placed his hope in industry, shared purpose, and dignity of labor.

His models—the industrial parks, his philosophy of coexistence, and his convictions—remain relevant today, especially in regions struggling with inequality, identity, and instability.