The Salute to Israel Parade

Grand Marshal 2010

Introducing the 2010 Salute to Israel Parade's Grand Marshal...

                                                       Meshulam Riklis!

Meshulam Riklis spent his formative years in Tel Aviv, Israel, and after nearly five years of service in the British Army in World War II, emigrated to the United States.  He earned a Bachelor's degree in mathematics from Ohio State University in 1950, and returned to O.S.U. to study banking and finance, receiving an M.B.A. in 1966. His thesis, "Expansion Through Financial Management", has been published by the Ohio State University Library Press.

In the early 1950's, Mr. Riklis joined a Minneapolis financial firm as a broker.  His interest in corporate finance led him to his first major deal in 1954.  Over the next four decades, Mr. Riklis was active in a variety of financial transactions, which involved ownership and control of some of the most recognizable names in American industry, including Smith-Corona, Schenley Liquor, Samsonite Luggage, Culligan Water Systems, McGregor, Botany 500, Lerner Shops, BVD, Playtex, RKO and Stanley-Warner Theaters, Faberge, Elizabeth Arden, Best & Company, S. Klein, Cartier, Mark Cross, Valentino and Georg Jensen, Riviera Hotel, Carnival Cruise Line, McCrory Corporation and numerous real estate developments (including a mall of over 1,800,999 square feet!).

Throughout his career, Mr. Riklis has maintained a continuing commitment of support of charitable causes.  His benefactors, through personal gifts, corporate philanthropy and foundationgiving, have been focused on biomedical research and health services, the Jewish community, the arts, education and the community affairs and major contributions to the arts including:  MOMA, Tel-Aviv Museum and Louisana Museum in Denmark.

Mr. Riklis was a member of the Young Presidents Organization for many years, and continues to be actively associated with them, often speaking to YPO groups on the subject of business and entrepreneurship. His taped lectures are among the twenty most frequently requested by YPO members.

He has received numerous honors and honorary degrees. Among them, and the one he is most proud of, the Horatio Alger Award, which he received along with President Ronald Reagan (then Governor of California), the Ohio Governor's Award, and the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog, which was bestowed upon him by the Queen of Denmark.

Mr. Riklis has served as a Visiting Professor at Baruch College of the City University of New York, and at Ohio State University. He has given repeated lectures at Duke University, the Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University.

Mr. Riklis' second marriage was to singer/actress Pia Zadora.  They are the parents of two children: daughter Kady and son Kristofer. Mr. Riklis is also the father of three children from his first marriage, daughters Mona and Marcia and son Ira, and has six grandchildren: Ari, Gila, Jordana, Talia, Daniella and David.