Sam Israel

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The Washington Shoe Building, a Samis-owned building in Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood.
The Washington Shoe Building, a Samis-owned building[1] in Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood.

Sam Israel (born March 4, 1899, in Rhodes, Greece; died June 11, 1994, in Seattle, Washington)[2][3] was a real estate investor and developer. Israel immigrated to the United States in 1919 and became a shoemaker in Seattle. After World War II, during which he had a military contract to repair combat boots at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, he began to invest in real estate.[2] His holdings, many of them in the Pioneer Square historic district, were largely run-down and undesirable to the majority of investors. Through what Paul Dorpat in Pacific Northwest Magazine called Israel's "benign neglect,"[4] many of these buildings survived to be renovated after his death in 1994.[5]

Israel established the Samis Land Company (now simply Samis) to manage his holdings; in 1979, he established the Samis Foundation, which is supported by the company and has granted over $40 million toward "enhanc[ing] the quality and continuity of Jewish life in Washington State and the State of Israel." The foundation states that over 80% of its annual grants support Jewish education in Washington.[2]

Israel spent much of his later years in Soap Lake, Washington, which was said to remind him of the land of Israel.[5]

Samis currently owns over 500 parcels in Washington, including 16,000 acres (65 km²) of land outside Seattle. Within Seattle, Samis owns two blocks in Downtown, and 11 historic buildings in Pioneer Square.[6] The Smith Tower was part of its portfolio from 1996 to 2006.[7]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The Washington Shoe Building on the Samis site, accessed 1 December 2007.
  2. ^ a b c Sam Israel, Samis Foundation. Accessed 1 December 2007.
  3. ^ Social Security Death Index at Rootsweb.com, accessed 1 December 2007.
  4. ^ Paul Dorpat, An Art-full Restoration, Pacific Northwest Magazine, a Sunday supplement to the Seattle Times, January 26, 2003. Article about the Collins Building in Seattle's Pioneer Square neighborhood. Accessed online 1 December 2007.
  5. ^ a b Maude Scott, It's A New Day For The Samis Foundation, Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce, February 28, 1997. Accessed online 1 December 2007.
  6. ^ Home page, Samis. Accessed 1 December 2007.
  7. ^ Jennifer Langston, Smith Tower, Seattle's first skyscraper, sold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 7, 2006. Accessed online 1 December 2007.