Pinchas Sapir

Pinchas Sapir was born in 1906 in Suwałki

Sapir was born Pinchas Kozlowski in 1906 in Suwałki, then in the Russian Empire. He grew up in a religious family. In 1926 he began working as treasurer for the HeHalutz organization, later handling its finances in Warsaw.

After finishing a teachers' seminary, he moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1929 and settled in Kfar Saba. There he founded a small savings bank, served on the local council and headed the water works. He became secretary of the Mekorot water company and served as deputy to Levi Eshkol there from 1937 to 1950.

In 1947 he was appointed head of the Haganah supply branch and dealt with arms transfers in the War of Independence. He was director general of the Ministry of Defense from 1949 to 1951 and of the Ministry of Finance from 1953 to 1955. He was among the founders of Tel Aviv University.

He became Minister of Trade and Industry in 1955 and worked to build industry in development towns and to attract foreign investors. He entered the Knesset for Mapai in 1959 and became Minister of Finance in 1963. From 1968 to 1969 he left the finance ministry to serve as secretary general of the Labor Party, remaining a minister without portfolio.

He opposed continued control of the West Bank and Gaza for economic and demographic reasons. He served in the Knesset until his death in 1975, when he had a heart attack at a ceremony in moshav Nevatim. Sapir College and the Sapir Prize are named after him.