Stef Wertheimer
Israeli industrialist who built ISCAR into a global precision tooling leader (sold to Berkshire Hathaway for ~$4B) and pioneered the TEFEN industrial park model for periphery development. A foundational figure in Israeli manufacturing.
Stef Wertheimer is an Israeli industrialist, investor, and public figure who built one of Israel's most successful industrial conglomerates and pioneered the concept of planned industrial parks as engines of regional economic development. His career represents the manufacturing and industrial side of the Israeli economy — a counterpoint to the software-centric "Startup Nation" narrative.
Industrial Empire
Wertheimer founded ISCAR in 1952, initially producing precision cutting tools (carbide inserts and tooling systems) for metalworking. Under his leadership and that of his son Eitan, ISCAR grew into a global leader in precision tooling — one of the top three manufacturers worldwide alongside Sandvik and Kennametal. In 2006, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway acquired an 80% stake in ISCAR (through the parent entity IMC — International Metalworking Companies) for approximately $4 billion — Berkshire's first acquisition outside the United States and one of the largest exits in Israeli industrial history. Berkshire later acquired the remaining 20%.
TEFEN Model
Wertheimer's most distinctive contribution is the industrial park model he developed beginning in the 1980s. He built planned industrial parks — the first at TEFEN in the Western Galilee — designed to bring manufacturing jobs, training facilities, and economic infrastructure to Israel's geographic and socioeconomic periphery. The parks combine factory space, shared services, educational institutions (including vocational training), and cultural amenities. The TEFEN model expanded to additional parks at Omer (Negev), Nazareth Illit, Lavon, and Dalton, and has been studied and replicated by governments in Turkey, Jordan, and China.
Philosophy
Wertheimer has been an outspoken advocate for the idea that sustainable economic development — particularly in the Middle East — depends on manufacturing, vocational training, and industrial employment rather than on high-tech entrepreneurship alone. He has argued that Israel's overemphasis on venture-backed startups neglects the need for a productive middle class built on skilled manufacturing work. This thesis is both an economic argument and a security argument: Wertheimer contends that regional stability follows when neighboring populations have access to industrial jobs and economic dignity.
Public Role
Wertheimer served as a member of the Knesset (1977–1981) and has been a persistent voice in Israeli public debate on industrial policy, education reform, and periphery development. He is one of Israel's wealthiest individuals and a major philanthropist, directing resources toward education, Arab-Jewish coexistence programs, and industrial development in the Galilee and Negev.