Dan Tolkovsky

Aluf Dan Tolkowsky (or Tolkovsky, ; 17 January 1921 – 28 November 2025) was an Israeli military officer who served as commander of the Israeli Air Force from 1953 to 1958. A noted investor, he helped start the first Israeli venture capital fund.

Early life and education Tolkowsky was born in Tel Aviv, in what was then the British Mandate of Palestine, on 17 January 1921 to Jewish parents, Shmuel Tolkowsky and Chana Tolkowsky . He was the grandson of Isaac Leib Goldberg. His father was born in Antwerp, Belgium, his mother in Vilnius, then part of the Russian Empire. During World War I, his parents moved to London, where his two older sisters, Naomi and Ada, were born. He was educated at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium, and in 1936, he joined the Haganah. In 1938, he moved to London to study at Imperial College London and graduated with a B.Sc. in engineering in 1941.

Military service In 1942, Tolkowsky volunteered for the Royal Air Force (RAF). He took flight courses in South Africa and Egypt, earning his wings in 1943. He went on to serve as a Spitfire fighter pilot, participating in battles in Italy, southern France, and Greece during World War II.

After the war, Tolkowsky moved to Britain and worked as a mechanical engineer. In December 1947, he secretly began helping efforts to purchase aircraft for Sherut Avir, the Haganah's air arm and forerunner of the Israeli Air Force (IAF). In 1948, a few days before the Israeli Declaration of Independence, Tolkowsky returned to Palestine. He served in the Israeli Air Force during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. As commander, he spearheaded the IAF's modernization and acquisition of jet-propelled aircraft. The IAF received its first fighter jets and took part in the 1956 Suez Crisis. After his term as commander ended in 1958, he was succeeded by future president Ezer Weizman. He was then appointed to head the Planning and Scientific Research Administration of the Ministry of Defense until 1959.

Tolkowsky also held a series of minor government posts. He was a member of the National Council for Research and Development, served on the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, participated in a commission of inquiry that investigated an accident at Lod Airport, was a member of the Israel Securities Authority plenum, and headed the public council of Tel Aviv University's business administration school. held a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology (1980), and held an award from the joint US-Israel Science and Technology Authority named after Yitzhak Rabin. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor by Isaac Herzog in 2023.

Tolkowsky married his wife, Miriam, in 1948; she died in 2015. He had a daughter and two sons, Roni, David, and Gideon, as well as nine grandchildren. He died at his home in Tel Aviv, on 28 November 2025, at the age of 104.