Jack Nash (businessman)

Jack Nash (April 10, 1929 – July 30, 2008) was an American businessman and investor. He served as president of Oppenheimer & Company and founded the New York Sun newspaper.

Early life and education

Born Jack Nachtgeist in Berlin on April 10, 1929, to a Jewish family that fled Nazi Germany^[1] when he was 12. He attended Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, New York, and graduated from City College in 1953.

Career

Nash joined Oppenheimer & Company in 1951 and became its president in 1974. He was elected chairman in 1979. In 1982, he and business partner Leon Levy sold the company for $163 million, investing $50 million to start the hedge fund, Odyssey Partners. Nash was also a founder of The New York Sun^[2] and served as vice chairman of the board of the American Stock Exchange in the late 1970s.

Personal life and death

Nash married Helen Englander in 1957, sister of billionaire investor Israel Englander. He and his wife donated millions to Jewish and other cultural and social charities. Although not Orthodox himself, Nash served as chairman of the Aleph Society, dedicated to promoting the works of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. Helen Nash has authored a line of kosher cookery books. They had two children, Joshua and Pamela, and six grandchildren.^[3]

Nash died on July 30, 2008, after a long illness, at Mount Sinai Medical Center.^[4]

References