Nathan Shapell

Nathan Shapell (March 7, 1922 – March 11, 2007) was a Polish-born American survivor of The Holocaust, as well as a real estate developer whose Shapell Industries was one of the largest real estate companies in California; he was also a philanthropist.

Early life and education Nathan Schapelski was born on March 7, 1922, in Poland. He was a teenager during Nazi Germany's Invasion of Poland.

Career Shapell moved to Los Angeles, California, with his wife in 1952, after reading about it in Life magazine, and they decided to stay. The company's first large development was El Dorado Park Estates in Long Beach, California.

Shapell developed the MGM ranch in Thousand Oaks, California, the residential community of Kite Hill in Laguna Niguel, California, the East Lake development in Yorba Linda, and Promenade Towers, a 510-unit project in Downtown Los Angeles.

From 1969 to 1984, Shapell Industries was publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange and the Pacific Stock Exchange. He also served on the Little Hoover Commission from 1975 to 1994. the University of Santa Clara, the University of Southern California, as well as Tel Aviv University and Bar-Ilan University in Israel. He also supported the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the D.A.R.E. program, and the Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services. They had a daughter, Vera Guerin. Vera inherited her father’s 43 percent stake in Shapell Industries. Vera still retains a 43 percent interest in the remainder of Shapell industries which includes over 10,000 apartments, five shopping centers, and four office buildings worth an additional $1.7 billion.