Arthur Belfer

Arthur B. Belfer (May 30, 1907 – May 2, 1993) was a Polish-born American businessman and philanthropist who founded the Belco Petroleum Corporation.

Biography Belfer was born to a Jewish family in Wodzisław, Poland. He worked as a dealer in feathers and down in Kraków. In 1939, at the age of 33, he arrived on a business trip in the United States four days after the Nazi invasion of Poland and soon found out that all his money had no value. In 1986, he resigned from Enron although remained a major shareholder.

Philanthropy Belfer is known for numerous philanthropic activities. He established the Belfer Institute for Advanced Biomedical Studies at Yeshiva University, the Belfer Graduate School of Science of Yeshiva University, Belfer Audio Laboratory and Archive at Syracuse University, the Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Institute for Latino and Latin American Affairs, Arthur and Rochelle Belfer National Conference for Holocaust Education at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Diane & Arthur Belfer Geriatrics Center, endowed the R. A. Rees Pritchett Chair in Microbiology at Cornell University, and founded the Belfer Center for Energy Research in Israel.

Personal life Belfer was married twice. His first wife, Rochelle Anisfeld, died in 1961; they had three children: Robert A. Belfer (born 1935), Selma Belfer Ruben, and Anita Belfer Saltz. In 1965, he married Diane Belfer. Belfer died of cancer on January 2, 1993, in New York City. He was a resident of Manhattan and Palm Beach, Florida.