David Remez

David Remez (; 23 May 1886 – 19 May 1951) was an Israeli politician, the country's first Minister of Transportation, and a signatory of the Israeli declaration of independence.

Biography

Remez was born David Drabkin in the village of Kopys in the Mogilev Governorate of the Russian Empire (now in Belarus) in 1886. After attending high school he studied law in Turkey before starting work as a teacher.

He became involved in politics and trade unionism soon after the Mandate era began, serving as Director of the Public Works Office of the Histadrut and Solel Boneh from 1921 to 1929 as well as on Tel Aviv's city council from 1921 to 1925,

Having signed Israel's declaration of independence, Remez was appointed Minister of Transportation in David Ben-Gurion's provisional government on 14 May 1948, a position he retained after the formation of the first government following the first Knesset elections in 1949.

He died in office in May 1951, the first Israeli minister to do so. His Knesset seat was taken by Menachem Cohen.

After his death several places in Israel were named after him, among them the Haifa neighborhood Ramot Remez and Remez Square in Jerusalem. His son, Aharon Remez was the second commander of the Israeli Air Force.