Aluf ( or "first/leader of a group" in Biblical Hebrew) is a senior military rank in the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) for officers who in other countries would have the rank of general, air marshal, or admiral. In addition to the ''aluf'' rank, fo ...

Dan Tolkowsky (or Tolkovsky, ; born January 17, 1921) is a retired

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i Air Force officer who served as a major general in the

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; , commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial and space warfare branch of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Indep ...

(IAF) from 1953 to 1958. A noted investor, he helped start the first Israeli venture capital fund.

Education and early life

Dan Tolkowsky -French Legion of Honor1958

Tolkowsky was born in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

in 1921 to Shmuel Tolkowsky, and was the grandson of Isaac Leib Goldberg. He was educated at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium, and in 1936, he joined the

Haganah Haganah ( , ) was the main Zionist political violence, Zionist paramilitary organization that operated for the Yishuv in the Mandatory Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine. It was founded in 1920 to defend the Yishuv's presence in the reg ...

. In 1938, he went to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to study at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

and graduated with a B.Sc. in engineering in 1941.

Military service

In 1942 Tolkowsky volunteered for the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. He was part of a group of Palestinian-Jewish RAF pilots sent to train at a flight school in

Southern Rhodesia Southern Rhodesia was a self-governing British Crown colony in Southern Africa, established in 1923 and consisting of British South Africa Company (BSAC) territories lying south of the Zambezi River. The region was informally known as South ...

(present day

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

). He earned his wings in 1943, being the first in his group to complete the course, and went on to serve as a

fighter pilot A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a Military aviation, military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, Air-to-ground weaponry, air-to-ground combat and sometimes Electronic-warfare aircraft, electronic warfare while in the cockpit of ...

and later in reconnaissance aircraft. He saw action in the Mediterranean theater,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. At the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he served as a transport pilot, and was later stationed in Palestine at RAF Lydda (now Lod). He was discharged from the RAF in June 1946 with the rank of flight lieutenant. After his discharge, Tolkowsky moved to Britain and worked as a mechanical engineer. In December 1947 he secretly began helping efforts to purchase aircraft for Sherut Avir, the Haganah's air arm and forerunner of the

. In 1948, a few days before the

Israeli Declaration of Independence The Israeli Declaration of Independence, formally the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel (), was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 (5 Iyar 5708), at the end of the 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine, civil war phase and ...

, Tolkowsky returned to Palestine. He served in the Israeli Air Force during the

1948 Arab-Israeli War Events January * January 1 ** The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is inaugurated. ** The current Constitutions of Constitution of Italy, Italy and of Constitution of New Jersey, New Jersey (both later subject to amendment) ...

, participating in bombing attacks on the Egyptian front. He was initially discharged from the IAF, but reenlisted in 1951. He first served as Inspector-General, and then as Chief of Staff to the Commander. He was appointed Commander of the IAF in May 1953 and served until July 1958. During his time as commander, the IAF received its first fighter jets and took part in the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...

. He was seconded to the Israeli Ministry of Defense in 1958-1959. He holds the rank of major-general (Res.) in the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

Civilian life

In 1959 Tolkowsky joined the Discount Bank Investment Corporation (DBIC), originally an arm of the Bank, later a public company in Israel. He was appointed as Managing Director in 1965 and Vice-Chairman in 1980. Beginning in 1962, DBIC was the first financial institution in Israel to invest in local hi-tech industry. Tolkowsky helped Uzia Galil start the technology holding company Elron Electronic Industries in 1962. In 1985 Tolkowsky, in partnership with his son Gideon and Frederick Adler, a noted American venture capital investor, founded Athena, the first venture fund in Israel, to invest in Israeli and American ventures, mostly hi-tech, which operated until 1997. Tolkowsky also held a series of minor government posts. In 1963, he joined the National Council for Research and Development. He served as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Radiation and Radioisotopes of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission. In 1970, he headed a commission of inquiry that investigated an accident at Lod Airport. From 1978-1980 he was a member of the

Israel Securities Authority The Israel Securities Authority (ISA) (Hebrew: רשות ניירות ערך) is the national securities regulator of Israel. Established by law in 1968, the Israel Securities Authority sees its mandate as a way to ensure an efficient capital mar ...

plenum. In 1997, he served on the Ciechanover Commission, which investigated a failed

Mossad The Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations (), popularly known as Mossad ( , ), is the national intelligence agency of the Israel, State of Israel. It is one of the main entities in the Israeli Intelligence Community, along with M ...

assassination attempt against

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

leader

Khaled Mashal Khaled Mashal (, ; born 28 May 1956) is a Palestinian politician who served as the second chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau from 1996 until May 2017, when he was succeeded by Ismail Haniyeh. He has also covered duties as the acting lea ...

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

. He also was a member of a committee examining the organizational structure of higher education institutions. Tolkowsky is a Commandeur of the French

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(1958), holds a

Doctorate Honoris Causa An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology (1980), and holds an award from the joint US-Israel Science and Technology Authority named after

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; , ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the prime minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–1977, and from 1992 until Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, his ass ...

. He is married to Miriam and has a daughter and two sons, Roni, David, and Gideon.Gideon Tolkowsky, Ph.D., Managing Director at BME Capital
/ref>

Notes

References

Jews from Palestine are sent to the RAF pilot course in Rhodesia
IAF Official Site. Accessed June 9, 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Tolkowsky, Dan 1921 births Living people Israeli men centenarians Israeli military aviators Israeli Air Force generals Israeli Jews Haganah members Reconnaissance pilots Royal Air Force pilots of World War II Alumni of Imperial College London Commanders of the Legion of Honour 20th-century Israeli businesspeople Jewish centenarians Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Mandatory Palestine military personnel of World War II