Shalem Confers Honorary Degree on Longtime Partner Louis Frenkel
This February, longtime Shalem supporter Louis Frenkel received an honorary degree from Shalem College at a special convocation ceremony near his home in Hungerford, England. Bestowed by Shalem President Russ Roberts, together with Executive Vice President Daniel Polisar and Chair of the David and Judith Lobel Core Curriculum Ido Hevroni, the degree was granted, noted Roberts, in recognition of Frenkel’s pivotal role in launching the college and sustaining it since its earliest days.
An investment manager and partner in a commercial-real estate company, Frenkel was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, where his father Joe, together with his first cousin Rudi Frenkel, established one of the country’s largest food companies, Tiger Oats and National Milling Company. After graduating with a B.A. from the University of the Witwatersrand and before moving to London in the 1950s, Frenkel volunteered at the fledging Kibbutz Nahal Oz, a symbol of his lifelong commitment to advancing the Zionist enterprise. Through the Joe and Rosa Frenkel Charitable Trust, the philanthropic entity named for his parents and of which he serves as trustee, Frenkel has supported numerous causes and institutions that advance the Jewish people and state.
“It is entirely fitting that [Frenkel] be recognized as an honorary graduate of Shalem College,” said Yair Shamir, chair of the Shalem College Executive Committee, in recorded remarks played at the event. Explaining that Shalem is “a new idea with the potential to transform Israel,” he insisted that “only people who truly care about this country and are willing to take bold risks to strengthen it could have gotten the college off the ground. [Frenkel] is one of those people, and he was among the very first.”
In his own remarks, Polisar noted that Frenkel’s savviness as an investor and depth of love for Israel are matched only by his profound sense of gratitude, most notably for his ability to support the causes about which he is passionate. Of Frenkel’s decision to become an early supporter of the Shalem vision, Polisar recalled, “Louis said to me, ‘We Jews need to help each other, and helping each other will make us all strong.’” He is, Polisar concluded, “a role model for Shalem students in his character and positive attitude, his resilience and refusal to give up, and his belief that he is a steward of a plan much larger than himself.”
The convocation ceremony, which was attended by dozens of Frenkel’s family and friends, also served as the occasion for naming a college seminar room after Louis’s father and an endowed chair in the David and Judith Lobel Core Curriculum after his mother, both of whom, explained Polisar, placed great value on knowledge and study, in the best of the Jewish tradition.
“Israel needs quality institutions of learning and education,” said Frenkel upon receipt of his honorary degree, “and Shalem College is to my mind a shining example of such an institution. It is my great honor to be in a position to support the incredible work Shalem is doing.”
