In 1952, High-school dropout Stef Wertheimer sets up a small metal shop and tool-making company in the backyard of his home in Nahariya. His company, ISCAR, quickly becomes a success.
In 2006, Berkshire Hathaway, a holding company for billionaire investor Warren Buffett, buys 80% of the company for $4 billion, and a few years later buys out the rest for $2.05 billion. Today, ISCAR is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of carbide industrial cutting tools used by carmakers like Ford and General Motors, employing 6,000 people in branches in 50 countries.
Over the years, Wertheimer, one of Israel’s biggest industrialists, founds six industrial parks in Israel and another in Turkey, to help create jobs and stability in the region. The first, Tefen Industrial Park, was built in 1982. Another, based in Nazareth, opened in 2013 and provides employment to Jews and Arabs.