Palm Beach Today
We Honor Philanthropists and Their Causes
Florida Friends of The Rabbinical College of America
David Chase and Simon Fireman, two of Palm Beach's most noted philanthropists, host
March 14, 2010 Second Annual Founders' Event
Lois Pope, David & Rhoda Chase
Photo by Ronald Tee Johnson
Rhoda & David Chase
Suzi Goldsmith
Simon Fireman, Rhoda & David Chase & Norma Fireman
Photo by Ronald Tee Johnson
The Second Annual Founders' Event
March 14, 2010 5:30pm - 8pm
For information: 561-848-7833
Inaugural Issue
Palm Beach Today Magazine
April 25, 2008
Cover Story
David & Rhoda Chase
Philanthropists Extraordinaire
David Chase escaped from a
"Death March" and came to
America as a young teen.
Within 10 years he was a millionaire.
By Ronald Tee Johnson,
Palm Beach Today Editor-in-Chief
In 1939, Germany occupied Poland and David Chase and his family were moved from their home in Sosnowiec to a ghetto. At age 12 Chase was on a march, a death march.
Eventually, the family was taken to Auschwitz Concentration Camp, where 60 members of his family perished including his mother and a younger sister.
During a death march from Mauthausen concentration camp, he escaped, and on May 5, 1945 was liberated by General Patton’s Third Army.
Arriving in America in June,1946, Chase settled in Hartford, Connecticut and whisked through Weaver High School in two years and began another march, a march toward extraordinary business success and the opportunity to give millions to good causes throughout the world in addition to working with world leaders to achieve peace.
His profound belief in God has guided him all the way and indicitive of Chase’s fierce loyalty to those that helped him succeed is the day he received his first pay check. He was waxing cars at a used car lot and the day he got the check, the boss man told him to go across the street and open an account at South End Bank.
“The people at the bank were very warm and friendly toward me. Even the president of the bank thanked me for opening an account and I was just a boy shining cars across the road,” Chase fondly recalls.
Ten years later, Chase was the largest single stockholder in the bank and chairman of the board, but that lofty financial position was not obtained easily. Chase had to take to the streets of Hartford to learn some valuable life lessons and understand how to channel his powerful determination to succeed.
Coming up with the idea that Harford homeowners needed basic housewares, Chase began going door-to-door, but no Willy Lomen was he.
“At first I sold detergent, flatware and pots and pans and I found that I really liked people and people liked me. I took an interest in them and their needs,” Chase said.
It was at this point, making a decent living as an entreprenuer, Chase began to think big, a trait that has continually carried him to success. But,thinking big requires confidence
Afterall, any person who has the confidence and the will to knock on a door and sell a pot isn’t timid about anything. Chase had no fear of failure, no sense of defeat. Even the most nasty of unhappy housewifes bought from David Chase.
“I began selling big home items like furniture, drapes, carpeting, television and radios sets and before I knew it I was making big money. I remember many $1,000 commission checks,” Chase explained.
From there, Chase took off running and thinking and creating and began building Chase Enterprises, a company that would scale the highest buildings and move at first into the development of shopping centers and then on into ownership of banks, insurance companies, radio and television stations, engineering companies, cellular phones, cable companies and auto part manufacturers.
In the early 90s Chase returned to Poland and brought the American free enterprise system and his patented dedication and keen sense of loyalty with him.
Through a subsidiary, Warsaw-based Chase International, Chase invested $20 million in Poland and employed more than 100 people. Most of the money went into a joint venture with Poland’s telephone company to build a fiber-optic cable TV system to serve Poland’s 10 million households.
Chase, now thinking big for his home country, brought in MTV and CNN and a fiber-optic telephone system. He opened a bank - Solidarity-Chase Bank - and even brought in a Wendy’s chain.
In a Forbes article (May, 27, 1991) the writer, Katarzyna Wandycz, asked Chase why he was opening up business in Poland. “The Polish people don’t look at me as if I came to exploit the country,” Chase said in the article. “Of course, they know my background; my family had been living in Poland for 500 years. And because I speak the language there is a feeling of trust .... a Polish telephone company is our partner, every city is our partner, and Solidarity is our partner. We are part of Poland.”
Chase said that he had always wanted to go back to Poland. “Deep down part of me will always be in Poland, and never left Poland.”
Always willing to share his knowledge of the American free enterprise system with those that want to know and understand it, Chase brought about The David T. Chase Free Enterprise Institute at Eastern Connecticut State University.
The Institute is dedicated to supporting the advancement of the free enterprise system. Chase said that the principle underlying the Institute’s mission is that capitalism can provide profitable business growth in a positive social environment.
“In American business and industry, there are many opportunities for small businesses to grow, create jobs, and reward their owner-operator,” Chase said. “The Institute promotes this concept by offering educational programs and activities about the free market enterprise.
The David T. Chase Institute Award is given annually to a business professional who is distinguished in the social, economic or political arena. Chase Medal winners have demonstrated professional success and contributed to the betterment of their community, state or nation. Victor Kiam, chairman of Remington Industries, was the first Chase Medal award winner in 1990.
In 2004, Virginia governor Mark Warner told an audience of free enterprise students and business people at the university that it was a $1 million in venture capital from Chase that helped him co-found Nextel, the cellular phone company.
“All I have today is because of the American free enterprise system and I cherish it,” Chase said.
Since 1952 when he established Chase Enterprises and had two children - Arnold Chase and Cheryl Chase (and six grandchildren) - Chase has been thinking big and making millions as a result.
His success has led to many honors: Doctor of Law from the Rabbinical College of America (his co-recipient being the late Gerald R. Ford); Doctor of Law from the University of the District of Columbia (co-recipient being Mrs. Coretta Scott King and Congressman Henry B. Gonzalez) and a Doctor of Commercial Science degree from the University of Hartford.
David and Rhoda are co-recipients of Doctor of Humane Letters degrees from Eastern Connecticut State University where the David T. Chase Free Enterprise Institute was established.
He has served as chairman of the board of the Rabbinical College of America and Machne Israel Development Fund, Trustee of the Foundation for the Advancement of Catholic Schools, and he is a founder of the United States Holocaust Museum.
He is the recipient of the State of Israel Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal from Poland. Rhoda is former vice president and treasurer of Chase Department Stores and president of the Parkview Hilton Hotel in Hartford.
She has served as a Regent of the University of Hartford and is a recipient of the B’Nai Brith Woman of the Year Award. She served five years as a Commission of the Arts for the State of Connecticut and is Vice Chairman of the YMCA.
Indeed David Chase escaped from a death march and sold pots and pans door-to-door and thought big. As a result, through his determination and hard work, countless charitable causes have been helped, but that doesn’t mean he is hanging it up.
Just last week he announced his re-development of the Palm Harbor Marina in the downtown area of West Palm Beach that will transform the waterfront. There he goes again ... thinking big. Lucky for us. •
David Chase and Simon Fireman
David Chase escaped from a
"Death March" and came to America as a young teen.
Within 10 years
he was a millionaire.
Read Ronald Tee Johnson's
story about David Chase
Palm Beach Today
We Honor Philanthropists and Their Causes
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to see the photos
Photos &
Video by
Maya
Johnson
Video produced by
Ronald Tee Johnson
Palm Beach Today
Photos &
Video by
Maya
Johnson
Video
Producer
Ron Johnson
The Fireman
home in
Palm Beach
Susan and Woody Goldberg
David & Rhoda Chase, Norma and Simon Fireman
Hosts at their Palm Beach Home - Norma & Simon Fireman
Susan and Woody Goldberg, Dick Robinson, U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman, David Chase
Rabbi Mendel Solomon, Senator Lieberman, Simon Fireman, Rabbi Herson
Suzi Goldsmith, Co-Chair; Sarah and Dick Pietrafesa, Sally Robinson
Hayden Hosford, Gail Worth, Frank and Geri Morrow
Irwin and Barbara Saltzman
Barbara Saltzman, Senator Lieberman, Rhoda Chase, State Senator Ron Klein
Rabbi Herson, Susan and Woody Goldberg
Dick and Sally Robinson. Dick, the voice of Palm Beach, served as MC at the event
David Chase and Chaplain (Major) Shmuel Felzenberg
U.S. Senator Lieberman and Florida Congressman Ron Klein
Rabbi Herson, David Chase, Simon Fireman, Rabbi Moshe and Dina Scheiner
Simon Fireman, Rabbi Moshe and Dina Scheiner
Ari Rifkin and Rabbie Herson
Co-Chair Lois Pope
Naomi Wilzig and Rabbi Herson
Rabbi Solomon
David Chase
Rabbi Herson
Ross Timothy and Dara Dyer, Senator Lieberman, David and Rhoda Chase, Landon Chase
Senator Lieberman with Simon Fireman
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