Mitchell Wolfson Sr. (1900 – January 28, 1983) was an American businessman, theatre owner, politician, and founder of

Wometco Enterprises Wometco Enterprises (also known simply as Wometco) is an American company headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida; a suburb of Miami. It was once a large media company with diversified holdings, but slowly sold off its assets during the early 1980s ...

Biography

Wolfson was born in 1900 in

Key West Key West is an island in the Straits of Florida, at the southern end of the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it con ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

. He went to school in Key West and at

Erasmus Hall High School Erasmus Hall High School was a four-year public high school located at 899–925 Flatbush Avenue between Church and Snyder Avenues in the Flatbush, Brooklyn, Flatbush neighborhood of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brookly ...

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, and then graduated from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. After school, he went to work for the East Coast Wholesale Corp in Miami, founded by his father in 1884. In 1925, he partnered with his brother-in-law, Sidney Meyer, forming the Wolfson-Meyer Theater Company and began construction on a state of the art theater in downtown Miami. The Capital Theatre was completed in 1926 at the cost of $300,000 and featured an early form of air conditioning. They built the company into a business conglomerate using the

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

. In 1949, Wometco founded the first television station in Miami,

WTVJ WTVJ (channel 6) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Fort Lauderdale–licensed WSCV (channel 51), a flag ...

. Wometco went on to own and operate the largest chain of movie theaters in South Florida, six television stations, a cable television company, a soft drink bottling franchise, and tourist attractions including the

Miami Seaquarium The Miami Seaquarium is a oceanarium located on the island of Virginia Key in Biscayne Bay, Miami-Dade County, Florida located near downtown Miami. Founded in 1955, it is one of the oldest oceanariums in the United States. In addition to m ...

. At the time of his death, Wometco had over $500 million in sales. Wolfson served two terms as city councilman in

Miami Beach, Florida Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Miami metropolitan area of South Florida. The municipality is located on natural and human-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean ...

, before being elected its first Jewish

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

in 1943. He resigned after one term to fight

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

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 ...

. As a founder and for his later philanthropy towards

Miami-Dade College Miami Dade College (MDC) is a public college located in Miami, Florida, United States. Established in 1959, MDC operates eight campuses and numerous outreach centers throughout Miami-Dade County. It is the largest institution in the Florida Colle ...

, the downtown campus was named the Wolfson Campus in his honor.

Personal life

He was married to Frances Meyer (December 16, 1906 – May 9, 1980); they had two sons, Mitchell Wolfson Jr. and

Louis Wolfson II Louis Wolfson II (September 19, 1927 – October 11, 1979) was a member of the Florida House of Representatives from Miami-Dade County from 1963–1973. Biography Wolfson was the son of Frances Meyer (1906–1980) and Mitchell Wolfson (1900 ...

. Wolfson died on January 28, 1983, at

Mount Sinai Medical Center Mount Sinai Hospital, formerly at times known as Mount Sinai Medical Center, is a 319-bed major urban hospital in Chicago, Illinois, with its main campus located adjacent to Douglass Park at 15th Street and California Avenue on the city's West Si ...

in Miami.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfson, Mitchell 1983 deaths 1900 births Wolfson family American theatre managers and producers Politicians from Key West, Florida Columbia University alumni Erasmus Hall High School alumni Mayors of Miami Beach, Florida Jewish American mayors 20th-century American Jews