Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr.
Alexander W Dreyfoos, Jr. (born 1932) is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist living in West Palm Beach, Florida. After graduating from the MIT Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1954[1] (where he remains a lifetime corporation trustee) and Harvard Business School in 1958, he founded Photo Electronics Corporation, a company specializing in photography and video production photography, in 1963. Over the decades working with the company, Dreyfoos was granted 10 US patents. In 1970, his invention Video Color Negative Analyzer for motion picture was the recipient of an Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.[2] Currently, some equipment developed by Photo Electronics Corporation can be seen on permanent display at the Smithsonian Institution. He also owned television station WPEC TV-12, the CBS affiliate in West Palm Beach, Florida from 1973 to 1996.[2] In addition, he owned Sailfish Marina Resort which is located in Palm Beach Shores, Florida, between 1977 and 2005 .[3]
Recognition
Over the years, Dreyfoos has received much recognition for his dedication to community involvement.[2] Among them, The Palm Beach Post: Business Leader of the Year (1980), Man of the Year (1992) and their centennial recognition of the 100 people who “changed the way we live” (1999); Palm Beach Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Special Award (1985) and One and Only Award (1992); Nova University’s Entrepreneur Hall of Fame Award (1991); Florida Master Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Ernst & Young and Merrill Lynch (1992); Palm Beach Atlantic University’s American Free Enterprise Award (1992); Northwood University’s Outstanding Business Leader Award (1994); Florida Atlantic University’s Entrepreneur of the Year (1996); Junior Achievement’s Inaugural Business Hall of Fame Award (2001); The Dreyfoos Tower of the Stata Center at MIT bears his name (2004).[4] American Diabetes Association Valor Award (2005); M.I.T..’s Marshall B. Dalton Award (1997) and the Bronze Beaver Award (1997).[2] In May 1999, Lynn University bestowed upon him an honorary doctorate of science degree. In January 2006 The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars of the Smithsonian Institution presented Mr. Dreyfoos the Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship.[2] In May 2006 the Kellogg School of Science and Technology of The Scripps Research Institute bestowed an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree on Dreyfoos.[2]
Philanthropy
Dreyfoos' most noteworthy philanthropic achievements include founding of the Palm Beach County Cultural Council and the cultural centerpiece of Palm Beach County, the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, which opened for business fully funded in 1992. Dreyfoos is also well known for making the largest donation in history to a Florida public school, a gift of $1,000,000 in 1997 to the Palm Beach School of the Arts,[5] which was soon thereafter renamed Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts. In 2004, Dreyfoos donated another $1,000,000 to the nascent Palm Beach County biomedical research campus of the California-based Scripps Research Institute. In February of the same year he was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Institute. More recently, on March 3, 2014, Alexander and Renate Dreyfoos gave $1,000,000 to the Max Planck Florida Foundation[6] to support the work of the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience (MPFI) which is located in Jupiter, Florida. Dreyfoos was elected a trustee of the Max Planck Institute in December 2012.[7]
Dreyfoos spends much of his time these days aboard his unique SWATH yacht Silver Cloud, designed and built by Abeking & Rasmussen in Lemwerder, Germany.
External links
- Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts
- Max Planck Florida Institute announcement on March 3, 2014
- Link to Photo of Alexander and Renate Dreyfoos
- Gallery containing photo of Alexander and Renate Dreyfoos with philanthropist George Elmore - April 12, 2013
- School of the Arts Foundation
- Retirement from Kravis Center Chair tribute video
- Scripps Philanthropy Factsheet
- Yacht Silver Cloud's website
References
- ↑ Members of the MIT Corporation - Alexander W. Dreyfoos, Jr
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- ↑ Alexander W Dreyfoos School of Arts, Mission and History
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