Jack Nash | |
|---|---|
| Born | Jack Nachtgeist (1929-04-10)April 10, 1929 Berlin,Germany |
| Died | July 30, 2008(2008-07-30) (aged 79) New York City, U.S. |
| Resting place | Beth El Cemetery 40.969595 N; 74.049812 W |
| Alma mater | City College of New York |
| Occupation | financier |
| Known for | Founder,The New York Sun President,Oppenheimer & Company |
| Spouse | Helen Englander |
| Children | 2 |
Jack Nash (April 10, 1929 – July 30, 2008) was a German-born American businessman and investor. He was president ofOppenheimer & Company and foundedThe New York Sun newspaper.
On April 10, 1929, Nash was born in Berlin as Jack Nachtgeist to Jewish parents. It is a family story that as a child, during a Nazi rally, he would not give the one-arm salute that demonstrated loyalty to theReich.[1] The family would later fleeNazi Germany prior to the onset ofWorld War II.[1][2] Nash and his sister were sent to a Swiss boarding school by their parents for their own safety before later immigrating to the United States. There he attendedStuyvesant High School in Manhattan, New York, and graduated fromCity College of New York in 1953.[citation needed]
Nash joinedOppenheimer & Company in 1951 and became its president in 1974. He was elected chairman in 1979. In 1982, he and business partnerLeon Levy sold the company for $163 million, investing $50 million to start thehedge fund, Odyssey Partners. Nash was also a founder ofThe New York Sun[3] and served as vice chairman of the board of theAmerican Stock Exchange in the late 1970s.[citation needed]
Nash married Helen Englander in 1957, sister of billionaire investorIsrael Englander. He and his wife donated millions to Jewish and other cultural and social charities. Although not Orthodox himself, Nash served as chairman of the Aleph Society, dedicated to promoting the works ofRabbiAdin Steinsaltz. Helen Nash has authored a line ofkosher cookery books. They had two children, Joshua and Pamela, and six grandchildren.[4]
Nash died on July 30, 2008, after a long illness, atMount Sinai Medical Center.[5]
In 2008, he was inducted into Institutional Investors Alpha's Hedge Fund Manager Hall of Fame along withAlfred Jones,Bruce Kovner,David Swensen,George Soros,James Simons,Julian Roberston,Kenneth Griffin,Leon Levy,Louis Bacon,Michael Steinhardt,Paul Tudor Jones,Seth Klarman andSteven A. Cohen.[6]