Azaria Alon

Azaria Alon was born in 1918 in Khoroshiv

Alon was born in 1918 in Ukraine to Sara and Haim Kozirovsky. His father was arrested in 1924 and held in prisons in Siberia. In 1925 Alon came to the Land of Israel with his mother and two sisters, and the family settled on Kfar Yehezkel in the Jezreel Valley.

When his father arrived, the family moved to Kiryat Haim. Alon studied at the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa and was a member of the HaMahanot HaOlim youth movement. In 1938 he joined Kibbutz Beit HaShita, where he lived for the rest of his life.

In the 1940s he hiked across the country and was arrested several times by the Mandate police. He fought in the War of Independence.

In 1953 he co-founded the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, later serving as its secretary or chairman and helping set up field schools. From 1959 he hosted the radio program Nof Artzenu on Kol Israel for over 50 years. From 1992 he taught at the Technion.

In 1952 he married Ruth, and they had 3 children. In 2012 he received the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement. He died in 2014.