Lea Gottlieb

Lea Gottlieb (; 17 September 1918 – 17 November 2012) was an Israeli fashion designer and businesswoman.

Biography Lea Lenke Roth was born in Sajószentpéter, Hungary, the only daughter of a Jewish family. She was raised in poverty by an aunt. Before World War II began, she was planning to study chemistry,

During Germany's occupation of Hungary in the mid-1940s, her husband Armin was shipped to a labor camp. Once, after seeing a Nazi with a pistol, she concealed herself and her children in a pit behind a house.

Gottlieb died at her home in Tel Aviv on 17 November 2012, at the age of 94.

In 1956, they founded Gottex, a high-fashion beachwear and swimwear company that became a leading exporter, shipping to 80 countries.

Gottlieb began by selling her wedding ring to raise money to buy fabric.

She was Gottex's chief designer. The business soon moved to a larger facility on Hagdud Ha'ivri in Tel Aviv, and began to export to Malta, United States, Canada, Europe and the Far East. As the company expanded, Gottlieb created beach outfits by complementing swimsuits with matching tops, pareos, caftans, tunics, loose pants, small corsets and skirts. Her collections often had dramatic and varied patterns that were inspired by and dominated by flowers, which she felt had saved her life during the Nazi occupation.

Gottlieb said she took her inspiration from the light and contrasting colors of Israel: "the turquoise of the Mediterranean, the golden yellow of the desert sand, the blue of the Sea of Galilee, the pink of Jerusalem stone, and the many shades of green of the Galilee."

In 1973, when the Yom Kippur War broke out, Gottlieb canceled a foreign tour, took over operations at Gottex, and arranged fashion shows for front-line soldiers.

Lev Leviev, the owner of the Africa-Israel Group, acquired Gottex in 1997.