$$News and Reports$$

Apr. 13, 2015
 

At the annual gathering toast for Passover for the faculty and staff of the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management, Dean Prof. Oded Lowengart surprised Emeritus Professor David A. Frenkel of the Department of Business Administration by granting him the Faculty Praiseworthy Award.

The Dean invited Prof. Frenkel to stand next to him. Surprised, he started to move towards the Dean, when his daughter Esther-Rika Frenkel Kristal surprised him by entering the hall to stand beside him.



Prof. Lowengart described Frenkel as, “a person who is dear to us and to the faculty, ahead of his peers, who is tirelessly and continuously involved in far-reaching academic activity”. 

While Professor Frenkel was still completely stunned, the Dean unwrapped a gilded frame, and read out loud: “And this is to attest that the Council of the Guilford Glazer Faculty of Business and Management decided to confer the Faculty Praiseworthy Award upon Emeritus Professor David A.  Frenkel, as a sign of admiration and appreciation for long and broad academic achievement and activity in the fields of management, law, ethics and more, for activity in publishing, in participation in conferences worldwide and spreading knowledge to many, for genuine friendship and readiness to assist and to share his rich knowledge with others in any area and at any time, and for being an example for the younger academic generation.”

“And that’s not all”, he continued. “We have prepared something for you that describes your multicolour sides: a collage made up of the covers of some of the many books you've written, intermixed with some of your paintings.” 



Following the Dean’s speech, the Rector, Prof. Zvi Hacohen, added that his relationship with Prof. Frenkel started back in the ‘70s, while he was the chairman of the junior academic staff in Bar-Ilan University and Frenkel was the chairman of the junior academic staff of the Hebrew University. Since then, a long term friendship developed, during which they found academic partners in the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev which both of them joined later. Prof. Hacohen spoke about the activities and achievements of David Frenkel as the legal advisor of the Ministry of Health, as the legal advisor of the municipality of Beer-Sheva, as a prominent musician who co-founded an exemplary chamber quartet, and as the first representative of the School of Management (now the Faculty of Business and Management) since its establishment, at the Academic Staff Union and how he guided them all during the conflicts along the years until his retirement, when Frenkel was appointed the Ombudsman for the academic staff of the university, a function he has been holding since.  

The Rector added, “and he does not it know yet, but after this meeting I am going to have a talk with him on continuing activity at the University.”

Prof. Hacohen concluded: “There are very few people with all the aspects ​you have in so many fields or with your knowledge in the history of Israel, and on so many other things. With the encyclopaedic knowledge that you hold, with your wisdom, with your love for mankind, we want you to be with us for many, many more years. Do us a favour, David, and watch your health!” 

Very emotional, Prof. Frenkel thanked everyone and especially his eldest daughter Ester-Rika. He added and promised everybody: “We shall continue working together for many years to come.”   

Pro​f. Frenkel, who is also a Praiseworthy Citizen of Beer-Sheva, was a co-founder of the European Business Ethics Network in Israel, which he chaired until recently. He is also a professor at the Carmel Academic Centre where he chairs the academic nomination committee, is member of the Board of Trustees of Ariel University, and chairs the Ethics Committee of the Soroka Medical Centre.  In addition, he held other public functions, including as member of the Board of the Israeli Sinfonietta Beer-Sheva, and until recently as the chairman of the Beer-Sheva Chess Club. He continues to participate in international conferences, and has been the academic organiser of annual international conferences on law, of the Athens Institute for Education and Research (AT.IN.E.R.) of which he is the head of the law research unit. He is a member of law journals’ editorial boards in Israel and abroad, continues publishing books and articles on various legal subjects and ethics as well as on Jewish thought, and does not refrain from responding in the world press against anti-Israel trends as well as anti-Semitism.