Who Are You, Alexander Kofkin?

This Passover, the festival of freedom, we wish to introduce to you the man whose generous donation allows us the freedom to pursue our scientific endeavors.

Born May 11^th, 1941, Alexander Kofkin is a Jewish-Estonian businessman with an Austrian citizenship. He was born in the former Soviet Union where he graduated from law school and began working at the Main Administration for Capital Construction of the Ministry of Meat and Dairy Industry USSR, and soon headed it. His work allowed him to permeate the iron curtain and travel on business to countries such as Finland and Denmark. Kofkin later went on to teach labor law at Technical Institute Number Four in Tallinn.

In 1968, the USSR allowed some Jews to immigrate to Israel. Kofkin seized the opportunity and applied in 1974, but eventually immigrated to Austria with his family. He became the manager of a produce commerce company and did business with many countries, including the USSR, making him one of the first entrepreneurs to live in the West and officially collaborate with the USSR. In 1986, Kofkin started another produce company, this time in Zurich. “Austria was too small for me,” he once said in an interview.

Today, Kofkin resides in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, and specializes in the food and hotel industry. He has been a member of the Tallinn Order of Excellence for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship, Economy and Tourism since 2009. In 1993, he established the Kofkin Foundation, one of several subsidiaries of the Estonian National Culture Foundation. This allows him to support the overseas education of Estonian promoters of culture, actors, and directors with annual scholarships in the sum of €1,000. Kofkin also founded a scholarship program for technology students through the Tallinn University Development Foundation.

In Israel, Kofkin’s donations enabled the establishment of Bar-Ilan’s Faculty of Engineering – and more: his generosity keeps the Alexander and Imbi Kofkin Youth Village at Ramat Hadassah, a boarding school for students in grades 7-12 which is home to some 280 students with difficult educational, social, or personal backgrounds. The youth village also operates a technological college for grade 13-14 students, testament to Kofkin’s affinity for technology.