Severyn Ashkenazy

Last updated
Severyn Ashkenazy
Born1936 (age 8788)
Tarnopol, Poland
NationalityAmerican
Education University of Paris
UCLA (did not graduate)
Occupation(s)Hotelier, philanthropist
Children4, including Sev Aszkenazy
Relatives Goga Ashkenazi (former daughter-in-law)

Severyn Ashkenazy (born 1936) is a Polish-born American hotelier.

Contents

Early life

Severyn Ashkenazy was born in 1936 [1] in Tarnopol, then part of Poland, now in Western Ukraine. [2] He has a brother, Arnold. [2] Their father, Izador Ashkenazy, was an art collector who owned paintings by Matisse, Monet, Gauguin, Picasso, and Manet. [2]

During World War II, he and his family hid in the cellar in the house of Polish peasant family in the countryside, who despite being fully aware of death penalty for helping Jews provided Ashkenazy's immediate and extended family (8 people in total) with shelter for over 20 months. [3]

After the war, he moved to France, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in literature from the University of Paris. [4] He then attended graduate school at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for four years, but did not complete his degree. [4]

Career

He developed L'Ermitage Beverly Hills with his brother Arnold, which opened in 1976. [4] As of 1989, he co-owned it with his brother, as well as the Bel Age and Mondrian hotels. [2]

Meanwhile, his brother Arnold Ashkenazy purchased paintings by "Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Raoul Dufy, Maurice de Vlaminck, Stanton Macdonald-Wright, John Altoon, Saul Steinberg, and California impressionist William Wendt, and lithographs by Joan Miró, Marc Chagall and Alexander Calder." [2] The brothers hung many of their paintings on the walls of their hotels. [2]

He is the founder and chairman emeritus of Small Luxury Hotels of the World. [3]

He is the founder of the Beit Warszawa Association, Heritage and Rebirth, Beit Polska and Beit Warszawa foundations, and Friends of Jewish Renewal in Poland. [3]

Personal life

He has a son, Sev Aszkenazy, who is a real estate developer in San Fernando, California. Whilst a UCLA student in 1960, Ashkenazy was involved with a Mexican American woman and left before the baby was born. His mother slightly changed the surname and brought him up as a Catholic. He finally met his father when he was in his 20s, and worked for him for six years, before starting Pueblo Contracting and Aszkenazy Development in San Fernando. [5]

His son, Stefan Ashkenazy, was married to the Kazakh-Russian businesswoman and socialite Goga Ashkenazi from 2003–2007, and they have a son, Adam. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lior Ashkenazi</span> Israeli actor

Lior Ashkenazi is an Israeli actor, voice actor, comedian and television presenter. Regarded as one of the best performers of his generation in Israel, he is recognized for his versatile work across independent films, television and the stage. He has received numerous accolades, including three Ophir Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Morton</span> American businessman (born 1947)

Peter Alan Morton is an American businessman. He is the co-founder of the Hard Rock Café, a chain of casual dining restaurants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heinz Berggruen</span> German and American art dealer and collector

Heinz Berggruen was a German and American art dealer and collector who sold 165 works of art to the German federal government to form the core of the Berggruen Museum in Berlin, Germany. He was the father of John, Olivier and Nicolas Berggruen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beit Warszawa Synagogue</span> Reform synagogue in Warsaw, Poland

The Beit Warszawa Synagogue is a Reform Jewish congregation and synagogue, located at 113 Wiertnicza Street, in the district of Wilanów, Warsaw, in the Masovian Voivodeship of Poland. Designed in the Modernist style and completed in 2003, the synagogue has regular events, including Friday night and Saturday morning prayers. Beit Warszawa is a member of Beit Polska, the umbrella organization for the Progressive and Reform Jewish community in Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L'Ermitage Beverly Hills</span>

L'Ermitage Beverly Hills is a luxury hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Built in 1975, the property was the first all-inclusive hotel in the United States. Today, the hotel consists of 116 suites.

The Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation is a non-profit arts foundation located on North Carolwood Drive in the Holmby Hills district of Los Angeles, California. Modern and contemporary artwork in the Frederick R. Weisman collection are displayed in a "living with art—house museum" context, with guided public tours by appointment with the foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Lasker Brody</span> American philanthropist

Frances Lasker Brody (1916–2009) was an American arts advocate, collector, and philanthropist who influenced the development of Los Angeles' cultural life as a founding benefactor of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and later as a guiding patron of the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Gardens.

Frank Richard Perls was a German-born American art dealer who was best known for uncovering a series of fraudulent art works. As an interpreter with the United States Third Army, Perls worked together with Army intelligence officer Martin Dannenberg in April 1945 in the discovery of a copy of the 1935 Nuremberg Laws signed by Adolf Hitler.

Kate Steinitz, informally known as “the Mama of Dada,” played a significant role in the history of art on a number of levels: in the creation of her own art works, as a preserver and collector of the art of her times, as a promoter of art and artists, and, for the last thirty years of her life, as a librarian of the Elmer Belt Library of Vinciana, first when the library was based in the collector's medical offices in downtown Los Angeles, and later as honorary curator when the collection was given to UCLA in 1961.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward W. Carter</span> American businessman (1911–1996)

Edward W. Carter was an American businessman, philanthropist and art collector. He served as the president of Broadway Stores and chair of the University of California Board of Regents, and was the owner of the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Los Angeles</span>

Jews in Los Angeles comprise approximately 17.5 percent of the city's population, and 7% of the county's population, making the Jewish community the largest in the world outside of New York City and Israel. As of 2015, over 700,000 Jews live in the County of Los Angeles, and 1.232 million Jews live in California overall. Jews have immigrated to Los Angeles since it was part of the Mexican state of Alta California, but most notably beginning at the end of the 19th century to the present day. The Jewish population rose from about 2,500 in 1900 to at least 700,000 in 2015. The large Jewish population has led to a significant impact on the culture of Los Angeles. The Jewish population of Los Angeles has seen a sharp increase in the past several decades, owing to internal migration of Jews from the East Coast, as well as immigration from Israel, France, the former Soviet Union, the UK, South Africa, and Latin America, and also due to the high birth rate of the Hasidic and Orthodox communities who comprise about 10% of the community's population.

William Mordecai Kramer was an American rabbi, university professor and art collector. He served as the rabbi of Temple Beth Emet in Burbank, California from 1965 to 1996. He was an associate professor of religious studies at the California State University, Northridge for two decades, where he established the Jewish Studies program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvey J. Fields</span> American Reform rabbi

Harvey J. Fields (1935–2014) was an American Reform rabbi. He served as the rabbi of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, the largest synagogue in Canada, from 1978 to 1982. He then served as the rabbi of Wilshire Boulevard Temple, the oldest synagogue in Los Angeles, from 1985 to 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Audrey Irmas</span> American philanthropist and art collector

Audrey Irmas is an American philanthropist and art collector. She has donated millions of dollars to Jewish causes, especially the Wilshire Boulevard Temple. She is one of the largest art collectors in the United States.

Goga Ashkenazi is a Kazakh businesswoman and socialite. She is the founder and CEO of MunaiGaz Engineering Group, a Kazakh oil and gas conglomerate. Since 2012, she has been head of the fashion label Vionnet, based in Milan.

The San Fernando Valley Sun is a newspaper published in San Fernando, California near Los Angeles, California, USA.

The Yeshiva University High School of Los Angeles is a college-preparatory, Modern Orthodox Jewish high school founded in 1979 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. It has no affiliation with Yeshiva University in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maurice Kremer</span> American businessman and civil servant

Maurice Kremer (1824–1907) was an American businessman and civil servant.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nazi looting of artworks by Vincent van Gogh</span>

Many priceless artworks by the Dutch post-impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh were looted by Nazis during 1933–1945, mostly from Jewish collectors forced into exile or murdered.

References

  1. "Severyn Ashkenazy". theeuropean-magazine. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 The Prince of Barter : For hotel magnate and art collector Arnold Ashkenazy, every day's a high-stakes swap meet, The Los Angeles Times , July 16, 1989
  3. 1 2 3 Poland is the safest place in Europe for Jews today, The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, September 23, 2014. Archive.
  4. 1 2 3 Californians boast 'world's best hotel', The Montreal Gazette, October 20, 1979
  5. Loiederman, Roberto (April 17, 2008). "Anti-Semitism charge colors liquor license fight in City of San Fernando". jewishjournal. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  6. Ella, Sima (1 February 2013). "Goga Ashkenazi Makes Her Mark on Society". jewishbusinessnews. Retrieved 13 December 2015.