Yitzhak Rahav

Yitzhak Rahav was born in 1926 in Jerusalem

Yitzhak Rahav was born Yitzhak Rabinovich in Jerusalem in 1926. As a child his family moved to Nazareth because of his father's work in the British Mandate police. He studied at a Christian school there, then at Kibbutz Ginegar and Nahalal, and later at a religious high school in Jerusalem.

He joined the Palmach in 1944 and then the Palyam, taking part in sabotage raids on British ships in Haifa port in 1946 and 1947. In the War of Independence he fought in Jerusalem and in the Harel Brigade. He later commanded Shayetet 13 twice and served as deputy commander of the Navy during the Six Day War.

He studied economics and political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and later business administration at the University of California, Berkeley. From 1968 to 1977 he managed Haifa port, carrying out reforms and modernization. He then led the Ports Authority, the Citrus Marketing Board and, from 1986 to 1993, served as director general of the Bank of Israel.

From 1994 to 2004 he sat on the board of Bank Leumi. He volunteered from 1992 with a children's welfare association. He lived in Ramat HaSharon from 1977, was named an honored citizen of the city in 2011, and died in 2015.