Mr. Henry Crown

The Institute of Business Research in Israel is named in honor of the late Mr. Henry Crown.

Mr. Crown was born of humble beginnings and by the force of his ingenuity, compassion and vision, overcame countless challenges to become one of the 20th century's most innovative and successful industrialists.
With a small investment in 1919, he co-founded Material Service Corp., a sand and gravel company, and grew it into one of the country's leading construction companies.

With the foundation for his path to success laid, he became further involved in real estate development, finance and transportation at a time when America was seriously struggling with its growth.

After voluntarily serving in the United States Army Corps of Engineers, during World War II at age 45, and receiving multiple medal honors, he returned to private business to not only take part in the surge of the post-war economy, but to play a vital role in it.

He aggressively diversified his business interests to include defense contracting, railroad, mining, farming, recreation and trucking. With disciplined risk-taking and superior financial acumen, the full force of these investments eventually resulted in the creation of Henry Crown and Company, one of the leading private investment groups in the country.

Today, the Crown Family owns and manages operating companies and real estate investments with combined annual revenues in excess of $1 billion.

It also maintains significant investments in a broad range of publicly traded corporations - with extensive Board of Directors representation - including General Dynamics, Hilton Hotels, Bank One, The Maytag Corporation, Alltel and Sara Lee.

The Crown Family has a reputation for philanthropy and as such continue to generously donate money to support academic and research programs all over the world.