Is Marc Rich Jewish?

Billionaire Marc Rich was Jewish. Known recently as the billionaire who was pardoned by President Bill Clinton over what had once been the biggest tax evasion case in U.S. history, Marc Rich invented oil trading and was praised for busting sanctions with Iran

Rich was born in 1934 to a Jewish family in Antwerp, Belgium to working-class Jewish parents. The family emigrated to the United States in 1941 to escape the Nazis. Marc Rich attended high school at the Rhodes Preparatory School in the Manhattan borough of New York City and NYU but dropped out to go work.

Marc Rich first married Denise Eisenberg, a songwriter and heiress to a New England shoe manufacturing fortune, in 1966. They divorced in 1996, but she continues to use the name Denise Rich. They had three children, one of whom, Gabrielle Rich Aouad, predeceased her parents.

According to the Jewish Daily Forward, the Belgian born Marc Rich became "the most successful and controversial trader of his time and a fugitive from U.S. justice, enjoying decades of comfortable privacy at his sprawling Villa Rosa on Lake Lucerne."

Marc Rich died on Wednesday, June 26, 2013 from a stroke in Switzerland. He was 78.

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Is Allen Neuharth Jewish?

Allen Neuharth was not Jewish. The founder of the USA Today national newspaper, Neuharth was born in Eureka, South Dakota to Daniel J. and Christina (who married on January 11, 1922).

Newharth was an American businessman, author, and columnist. He was the founder of USA Today, The Freedom Forum, and its Newseum.

Allen Neuharth died on April 19, 2013.

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Is Mark Cuban Jewish?

Mark Cuban is Jewish. The American businessman, investor, and philanthropist was born on July 31, 1958. Cuban was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Shirley and Norton Cuban. He grew up in the affluent suburb of Mount Lebanon, in a Jewish working-class family. The surname "Cuban" was shortened from "Chabenisky" when his Russian grandparents landed on Ellis Island. His father was an automobile upholsterer.

Mark Cuban is most well known for being the owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks. He also owns Landmark Theatres and Magnolia Pictures, and the chairman of the HDTV cable network AXS TV. He is also a "shark" investor on the television series Shark Tank. In 2011, Cuban wrote an e-book, How to Win at the Sport of Business, in which he chronicles his life experiences in business and sports.

Cuban attended Mount Lebanon High School. During his senior year of high school Cuban enrolled as a full-time student at the University of Pittsburgh. After one year at the University of Pittsburgh, he transferred to Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana and graduated from the Kelley School of Business in 1981 with a bachelor's degree in business administration.

In September 2002, Cuban married Tiffany Stewart in Barbados. Their first daughter, Alexis Sofia, was born on September 25, 2005; their second daughter, Alyssa, was born in 2007. The Cubans also have a son born in early 2010. The family lives in the Preston Hollow area of Dallas, in a 24,000-square-foot mansion.

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Is Aaron Levie Jewish?

Aaron Levie is a Jew. The co-founder and CEO of Box is Jewish. Aaron Levie was born in 1985 in Seattle, Washington to Ben and Karyn Levie. He grew up in Seattle and attended Mercer Island High School, part of the Mercer Island School District in Washington. His family are members of Congregation Beth Shalom in Seattle.

After graduating from high school, he went on to attend the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California before taking a leave of absence in 2005 to found Box, the enterprise cloud company worth over a billion dollars. Aaron Levie has written numerous articles on disruptive innovation in the technology industry.

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Is Aaron Swartz Jewish?

Aaron Swartz was Jewish. Aaron Swartz was the technologist and computer programmer who helped develop code that created the RSS feed  as a teenager. Aaron was born November 8, 1986 to Robert and Susan Swartz. He had two younger brothers Noah and Ben. His partner was Taren Stinebrickner-Kauffman, the Executive Director and Founder of Sum Of Us.

According to the NY Times, Aaron Swartz's uncle said that he had apparently hanged himself, and that a friend of Mr. Swartz’s had discovered the body. Aaron’s funeral will be held on Tuesday, January 15 at Central Avenue Synagogue, 874 Central Avenue, Highland Park, Illinois.

The NY TImes reported that, "At 14, Mr. Swartz helped create RSS, the nearly ubiquitous tool that allows users to subscribe to online information. He later became an Internet folk hero, pushing to make many Web files free and open to the public. But in July 2011, he was indicted on federal charges of gaining illegal access to JSTOR, a subscription-only service for distributing scientific and literary journals, and downloading 4.8 million articles and documents, nearly the entire library. Charges in the case, including wire fraud and computer fraud, were pending at the time of Mr. Swartz’s death, carrying potential penalties of up to 35 years in prison and $1 million in fines."

It had been reported that Swartz suffered from depression and had contemplated suicide in the past. "In a talk in 2007, Mr. Swartz described having had suicidal thoughts during a low period in his career. He also wrote about his struggle with depression, distinguishing it from sadness."

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Is Deborah Raffin Jewish?

Deborah Raffin was Jewish. Raffin was born in Los Angeles, California to Trudy Marshall, a Brooklyn-born former movie actress, and Phillip Jordan Raffin, a restaurateur and business executive.

Raffin was known as movie star and the founder of a large audio-book company. Raffin and her husband, movie producer Michael Viner, launched the audio-book company Dove Books-on-Tape in the mid-'80s, publishing a profitable mix of titles that included Sidney Sheldon's "The Naked Face" and Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time."

According to her Wikipedia entry, Raffin appeared in several 1970s Hollywood films. Her 1976 television movie Nightmare in Badham County became a theatrical hit in mainland China, making Raffin a star there, and leading to her later becoming the first Western actress ever to make a movie promotion tour in that country. She was nominated for both a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Drama and a Razzie Award for Worst Actress for her performance in Touched by Love in 1981.

In 1988, she starred in James Clavell's Noble House with Pierce Brosnan. In 1991, she appeared as Julie Vale, a telepath, in the cult film Scanners II: The New Order. She later appeared as Aunt Julie on the television show 7th Heaven, and as Dr. Hightower in the ABC Family teenager series, The Secret Life of the American Teenager.

Together with Michael Viner, who predeceased her in 2009, the couple had one child and divorced in 2005. Raffin died in her native Los Angeles on November 21, 2012, aged 59, from leukemia.

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Is Leona Helmsley Jewish?

Leona Helmsley was Jewish. Leona Helmsley was born Lena Mindy Rosenthal.

Both of her parents were Polish Jewish immigrants. Her father was a hatmaker. She was born in Marbletown, New York.

Her family moved to Brooklyn while she was still a girl, and moved six more times before settling in Manhattan. She dropped out of Abraham Lincoln High School to seek her fortune.[3] In a short time, she changed her name several times—from Lee Roberts, Mindy Roberts and Leni Roberts. Eventually, she decided on Leona Mindy Roberts.

According to her Wikipedia entry, her first husband was attorney Leo Panzirer, whom she divorced in 1952. Their only son was Jay (1940–1982), who had four children with his wife, Mimi. Leona was twice married to and divorced from her second husband, garment industry executive Joseph Lubin. After a brief stint at a sewing factory, she joined a New York real estate firm, where she eventually became vice-president.

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Is Tim Cook Jewish?

Tim Cook is not Jewish. The CEO of Apple Co. is not a Jew.

Tim Cook grew up in Robertsdale, Alabama, near Mobile. His father was a shipyard worker. He graduated from Robertsdale High School and Auburn University. He earned a MBA from Duke University.

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Is Mark Zuckerberg Jewish?

Mark Zuckerberg is a Jew. The Facebook founder was born to Karen and Edward Zuckerberg in 1984.

Zuckerberg's mother is a psychiatrist, and his father is a dentist. Zuckerberg has three sisters, Randi, Donna, and Arielle. Randi worked at Facebook during the early years. She is now married to Brent Tworetzky and the couple has a son, Asher.

Zuckerberg and his sisters were raised Jewish in Dobbs Ferry, New York and they attended Temple Beth Abraham, a Reform temple in Tarrytown, New York. Mark Zuckerberg celebrated his bar mitzvah at Temple Beth Abraham, which Rabbi David Holtz recalls had a "Star Wars" theme at the bar mitzvah party.

As an adult, Zuckerberg has described himself as an atheist. On Saturday, May 19, 2012 Mark Zuckerberg married his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan. The couple married in a small ceremony in Zuckerberg's back yard of his Palo Alto, California home. The wedding took place just days after Priscilla Chan graduated from UCSF Medical School, which was coincidentally Mark Zuckerberg's 28th birthday. The wedding also took place the day after Facebook's IPO.

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Is Jamie Dimon Jewish?

Jamie Dimon is not Jewish. The JPMorgan Chase CEO is married to a Jewish woman, but Dimon did not convert to Judaism before their wedding or during their marriage.

Dimon is married to Judith Kent; they have three children: Julia, Laura, and Kara Leigh.

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Is Vidal Sassoon Jewish?

Vidal Sassoon was Jewish. According to the JTA, Vidal Sassoon grew up in a Jewish orphanage from the age of 3 after his father left the family. He is a native of London and both of his parents were Jewish.

He left school at 14 to become an apprentice hairdresser and at the age of 20, he joined the Haganah and fought in Israel's War for Independence.

Sassoon was a celebrity hairstylist. For much of his life he was committed to fighting anti-Semitism. He was married and had four children.

Sassoon died on May 9, 2012 in Los Angeles at the age of 84 due to complications of leukemia. Coincidentally, Sassoon died on the Jewish holiday Lag BaOmer, when it is customary for Jews to get their first haircuts following Passover.

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Is Greg Smith Jewish?

Yes, Greg Smith is Jewish. The Goldman Sachs executive who famously published a New York Times op-ed excoriating the investment bank were he worked is Jewish. Greg Smith admonished Goldman Sachs for having a culture winning at any cost rather than putting the client's best interest first. Many are calling Greg Smith a real life Jerry McGuire.

The Former Goldman Sachs executive Greg Smith is Jewish (Photo: USA Today)

In his scathing NYTimes op-ed, Greg Smith wrote:

My proudest moments in life — getting a full scholarship to go from South Africa to Stanford University, being selected as a Rhodes Scholar national finalist, winning a bronze medal for table tennis at the Maccabiah Games in Israel, known as the Jewish Olympics — have all come through hard work, with no shortcuts. Goldman Sachs today has become too much about shortcuts and not enough about achievement. It just doesn’t feel right to me anymore.

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Is Will Kopelman Jewish?

Yes, Will Kopelman is a Jew. The art consultant began dating Drew Barrymore in early 2011 and became engaged to the actress in January 2012.

Will Kopelman is the son of former Chanel CEO Arie Kopelman. The couple announced their engagement in January 2012.

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