Willy Margulies

William Margulies, Founder of Ararat Publishing House in London. He was born in Germany but Nazi persecution forced his family to emigrate to the UK in 1934. He took a BCom and an MSc (Econ) at the London School of Economics, then entered his family's business in the clock and watch sector. Mr Margulies helped to manage the company's factory in South Wales and oversaw its establishment of factories in Switzerland, France and Hong Kong, as well as a retail distribution chain in the UK. He also ran the Ararat Publishing Society, publishing important volumes in Hebrew. Through his friendship with the late Manfred Altmann, Mr Margulies became interested in the Institute of Jewish Studies at UCL. He established the Benzion Margulies Lectureship in Yiddish Studies - in his late father's name - and one of the largest Yiddish libraries in Europe, making these endowments permanent. At the time of his emigration to Israel in 1995, he donated a substantial part of his Jewish and general library to UCL. In Israel he supports the Yiddish Theatre, as well as Yiddish studies at two universities. He is a governor of the Israel Museum and the Jerusalem Academy of Music, as well as a patron of the Israel Opera and the Jewish Music Research Centre. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2007/jun/ucl-fellows-inaugurated