WARSAW, Poland (JTA) — Polish businessman and philanthropist Aleksander Gudzowaty, who sponsored Jerusalem’s Tolerance Monument, has died at 75.
One of the wealthiest people in Poland, Gudzowaty, who died of Feb. 14 at a hospital in Warsaw, was born in Lodz and in 1989 started the gas company Bartimpex.
A donor to interfaith dialogue causes, Gudzowaty, who was not Jewish, was responsible for the erection of the Tolerance Monument in Jerusalem and in 2011 received the city’s Teddy Kollek Award
On May 28, 2012 he was appointed as Honorary President of the World Center of Tolerance in Jerusalem.
Godzowaty was a member of the International Board of Governors of the Peres Center for Peace.
"We shared with Aleksander a similar dream of a world without hate,” Abraham H. Foxman, National Director of the anti-Defamation League, said in a statement.
“While he did not see that dream come to pass in his lifetime, his work in promoting respect and peace will be remembered and respected for many years to come," Foxman said. "We will always hold in our hearts an abiding love, affection and appreciation for his efforts as well as his infectious warmth and graciousness of character that made him a true mensch."
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