RAYMOND FRANKEL

FRANKEL--Raymond.

Technologist, investment advisor, philanthropist, and advocate for Israel, died peacefully on October 30, 2017, in Los Angeles. His family was at his side. He was 96. A resident of Larchmont, NY and Los Angeles, Ray's career began in World War II as a naval officer with the Pacific Fleet. Returning to his alma mater MIT, Ray earned an MS in chemical engineering. From 1946 to 1948, Mr. Frankel worked with members of the "Sonneborn Institute," which ran a clandestine weapons pipeline to Jewish fighters of the Haganah in Palestine. Mr. Frankel then became associated with Electric Bonds and Share Corporation and the venture capital firm J.H. Whitney and Company, both interested in the emerging semiconductor business. In 1952, Ray visited Texas Instruments, which had just purchased a patent license to produce transistors. Ray closely followed its research and recognized that the use of silicon transistors was a revolutionary technological innovation. TI became a key investment for his firm and the beginning of his investment career. He served as a consultant to Allstate Insurance, Dreyfus Corporation, the Energy Fund, General American Investors, Kleinwort Benson, MA Mutual Insurance, and Union Carbide. Ray was also head of the American division of the British Investment Trust and served as a director of Baird-Atomic Corp., Cerametals, Inc., Pacific Uranium Co., Pantheon Books, Sequa Corporation, and Standard Microsystems. He was also general manager of Reporter magazine. Ray served as a managing director of Glickenhaus and Co. and Burnham Asset Management. At the time of his death, he was still active as a portfolio manager with RMB Capital Management of Chicago. Mr. Frankel was born on July 23, 1921 and grew up in Louisville, KY. He traveled widely to meet with political and industrial leaders in Asia, the Middle East and Europe. He was an associate of the Milken Institute and a director of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. As founder and president of his charitable foundation, he created the Frankel MIT Global Fund to support activities of MIT's Strategic Studies Program. His foundation also supported The Israel Project, the Crown Center for Middle East Studies, the Program on Government Oversight, and the Israel Democracy Institute. His passions included travel, skiing, bridge, golf and Sudoku. He is survived by his wife Maxine Stussy Frankel, sister Betty Younger, sons Jonathan and Andrew "T," daughter Belinda, stepson Dieter Stussy, nine grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, a niece and a nephew.