{{Short description|Israeli financier and businessman (1923–2019)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}} {{Infobox person | name = Meshulam Riklis | native_name = משולם ריקליס | native_name_lang = he | image = Meshulam Riklis.jpg | caption = Riklis in 1988 | birth_date = {{birth date|1923|12|2|df=y}} | birth_place = Istanbul, Turkey | death_date = {{death date and age|2019|1|25|1923|12|2|df=y}} | death_place = Tel Aviv, Israel | occupation = {{hlist|Financier|businessman}} | spouse = {{plainlist| * {{marriage|Judith Stern|||end=divorced}} * {{marriage|Pia Zadora|1977|1993|end=divorced}} * {{marriage|Tali Sinai|2010}} }} | children = 5 }}
'''Meshulam Riklis''' ({{langx|he|משולם ריקליס}};{{lrm}} 2 December 1923 – 25 January 2019) was an Israeli financier and businessman.
==Early years== Born in Istanbul to a Russian-Jewish family, Riklis grew up in Tel Aviv, and attended the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium high school; before coming to the United States in 1947 with his first wife, Judith Stern, with whom he had three children. He studied mathematics at Ohio State University, graduating in 1950. His first significant job was as a junior stock analyst for the Minneapolis investment firm Piper Jaffray.
==Business career== Riklis is credited with having originated complicated paper transactions like high-yield bonds and leveraged buyouts to take over control of major companies, then doing paper switches of the assets into companies he owned. His first significant foray was the creation in 1966<ref name="bberg">{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=36194228|title=Company Overview of Rapid-American Corp.|publisher=Bloomberg|access-date=5 April 2018}}</ref> of the Rapid-American Corporation by combining his significant stake in Rapid Electrotype Company, a platemaking concern with the American Colortype Company, a maker of stereoview lithographs and dollhouse furniture. Tracing the history of Rapid American Corporation<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,874162,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714072439/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,874162,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=14 July 2007|title=Corporations: The Rapid Riser|magazine=Time|date=6 June 1960|access-date=18 November 2012}}</ref> and its renamed form Glen Alden Corporation, one can find the succession of acquisitions Riklis used to create his financial empire, including; McCrory Stores, Leeds Travelware,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.patentstorm.us/assignee-patents/_Leeds_Travelwear__a_division_of_Rapid_American_Corporation/417052/1.html|title=Leeds Travelwear, a division of Rapid-American Corporation – US Patent Assignee – PatentStorm |publisher=Patentstorm.us|access-date=18 November 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007011354/http://www.patentstorm.us/assignee-patents/_Leeds_Travelwear__a_division_of_Rapid_American_Corporation/417052/1.html|archive-date=7 October 2012}}</ref> Gruen Watch Company, Elizabeth Arden cosmetics, Aunt Nellie's Farm Kitchens, Bargain Time, Beatrice Foods, Canadian retailer Dylex, Culligan International, Fabergé Cosmetics, J. J. Newberry stores, Lerner Shops, Lawry's Meat Specialties, Martha White Foods, Odd Lot Trading, International Playtex, the Riviera hotel and casino in Las Vegas, RKO-Stanley Warner Theatres, Samsonite, and Schenley Industries, the one-time American distributor of Dewar's whisky.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nndb.com/people/431/000205813|title=Meshulam Riklis |publisher=Nndb.com|access-date=18 November 2012}}</ref>
After his financial empire was well established, he returned to Ohio State to complete his master's degree in Finance. His degree thesis, titled "Expansion through Financial Management" and based on his career, discussed "the effective use, or rather non-use, of cash."<ref name="bragthesis">{{cite thesis|url=https://etd.ohiolink.edu/!etd.send_file?accession=osu1303155861|title=Expansion Through Financial Management Case Studies|last=Riklis|first=Meshulam|year=1966|type=MBA|publisher=The Ohio State University|page=76|access-date=13 June 2015}}</ref> At the height of his financial success, he claimed in an interview with the ''Los Angeles Times'' to have had a reported net worth of a "billion dollars."<ref>{{cite news|author=Michael A. Hiltzik|title=A Borrowed Empire: Meshulam Riklis, Known to Most of the World as Mr. Pia Zadora, Is a Model for Today's Corporate Raiders, a Controversial Tycoon Who Built a Financial Kingdom on Debt|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=17 August 1986|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-08-17-tm-16503-story.html|access-date=19 December 2015}}</ref>
One of the many shells and holding companies he bought in the process of building the empire was E-II Holdings, in which the other investors later discovered he had placed the names of impressive companies, but not the assets. Among the investors in E-II was Carl Icahn. These investors revolted against Riklis and started seizing other properties in the financial empire.<ref>{{cite web |author=Stephanie Strom |date=26 May 1993 |title=E-II Holdings Wins Fight For Reorganization Plan |work=The New York Times |page=D3 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/26/business/company-news-e-ii-holdings-wins-fight-for-reorganization-plan.html |access-date=18 November 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alacrastore.com/deal-snapshot/E_II_Holdings_Inc_acquires_McCrory_Parent_Corp_from_Riklis_Family_Corp-26691|title=Riklis Family Corporation – Company Snapshot|publisher=Alacrastore.com|access-date=18 November 2012}}</ref>
Many of the corporations declared bankruptcy, again carefully maneuvered by Riklis to preserve his personal wealth. He famously sold his stake in the Carnival Cruise Line to Ted Arison for US$1 (while the company was US$5 million in debt).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.beyondships.com/CarnivalMiracle-NumberOne-1.html|title=Article on Carnival Miracle and Carnival Victory|website=beyondships.com|access-date=18 May 2014|archive-date=4 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210304193254/https://beyondships.com/CarnivalMiracle-NumberOne-1.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> In the early 1980s, he hired Jeffrey Silver and then Boston accountant, Arthur Waltzman, to take over as CEO of his then struggling Vegas landmark Riviera Hotel and Casino and rescue it from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} He also brought on board 25-year Playboy Enterprises executive, Sam Distefano to head the resort's entertainment department and personally hire its celebrity headliners for over eleven years.<ref>[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-09-28-ca-1474-story.html "Frank Sinatra"], ''Los Angeles Times'', 28 September 1990. Retrieved 19 December 2015.</ref>
''Forbes'' Magazine reported that while at the helm of a string of his companies, Riklis left his creditors unpaid for over US$2.9 billion in debt. According to ''Forbes,'' less than 10% of this had been recovered as of 2007.<ref>{{cite news |author=Nathan Vardi |title=The Check Is Not in the Mail: More tales of the misfortunes that befall Meshulam Riklis' creditors |date=30 September 2002 |work=Forbes |url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2002/0930/400067_print.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021108071639/http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2002/0930/400067_print.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=8 November 2002 |access-date=18 November 2012}}</ref> In March 2013, Riklis filed for bankruptcy protection for Rapid-American Corp because of asbestos related personal injury claims brought against Rapid American through their subsidiary Philip Carey Manufacturing.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rapid-American Files Bankruptcy Citing Asbestos Liability |publisher=Bloomberg |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-08/rapid-american-files-bankruptcy-citing-asbestos-liability.html |date=8 March 2013 |access-date=11 January 2014}}</ref>
==Personal life== After divorcing his first wife, the 53-year-old Riklis was married to the then 23-year-old Pia Zadora on 18 September 1977. They had two children, Kady and Kristofer.<ref name=MonaObituary>Daniel E. Slotnik (5 December 2012) [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/nyregion/mona-ackerman-psychologist-who-wrote-advice-column-dies-at-66.html "Mona Ackerman, Advice Columnist, Dies at 66"], ''The New York Times''.</ref>
Riklis then financed the movie ''Butterfly'', starring Zadora. Her acting in the film was lampooned by comedians and critics alike,<ref>{{cite news |author=Vincent Canby |date=5 February 1982 |title=Movies: Pia Zadora in Cain's 'Butterfly' |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/05/movies/pia-zadora-in-cain-s-butterfly.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520011135/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9906E4D71038F936A35751C0A964948260 |archive-date=20 May 2011}}</ref> winning her the Razzie Award for Worst Actress, but she somehow won the Golden Globe Award as New Star of the Year<ref>{{cite web |title=The 39th Annual Golden Globe Awards |publisher=TheGoldenGlobes.com |url=http://thegoldenglobes.com/welcome.html?yearz/G-1981.html |access-date=18 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211134727/http://thegoldenglobes.com/welcome.html?yearz%2FG-1981.html |archive-date=11 February 2012}}</ref> after a well publicized press junket paid for by Riklis, also hosted at his own Riviera Hotel.<ref>{{cite news|author=Bernard Weinraub|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/02/08/movies/first-comes-a-junket-then-a-golden-globe-hollywood-is-buzzing.html?pagewanted=1|title=First Comes a Junket, Then a Golden Globe; Hollywood Is Buzzing|work=The New York Times|date=8 February 1993|access-date=18 November 2012}}</ref> He financed two more films with Zadora; all three movies have become known as camp classics.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|magazine=Filmink|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/ten-billionaires-stung-hollywood/|title=Ten Billionaires Who Were Stung by Hollywood|date=March 10, 2020}}</ref>
Riklis and Zadora then bought and demolished one of Beverly Hills' best known landmarks, Pickfair Manor, the former home of silent movie legends Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford, to build a larger home on the site. They lived there until their divorce in 1993.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}
In 2010, aged 86, Riklis married his third wife, Tali Sinai, who was almost 40 years his junior.<ref>{{cite news |author=Greer Fay Cashman |date=24 August 2010 |title=Grapevine: A gentlemanly judge: Why Stephen Adler is handing over early, a special tribute for the FPA's Connie Mus, Australia honors Wallenberg |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |url=https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Grapevine-A-gentlemanly-judge |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110124090905/http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=185851 |archive-date=24 January 2011}}</ref> In 2012, his daughter Simona, known professionally as advice columnist Mona Ackerman, predeceased her father, dying from cancer at age 66.<ref name=MonaObituary/> Meshulam died in Tel Aviv on 25 January 2019, aged 95.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://deadline.com/2019/01/meshulam-riklis-dies-pia-zadora-husband-billionaire-involved-in-golden-globes-scandal-was-95-1202542139|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126043317/https://deadline.com/2019/01/meshulam-riklis-dies-pia-zadora-husband-billionaire-involved-in-golden-globes-scandal-was-95-1202542139/|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 January 2019|title=Meshulam Riklis Dies: Pia Zadora Husband, Billionaire Involved In Golden Globes Scandal Was 95|first1=Bruce|last1=Haring|date=26 January 2019|magazine=Deadline Hollywood}}</ref>
==Philanthropy== The philanthropic ventures of Meshulam Riklis included Beit Riklis in Jerusalem, which closed in 2009.<ref>{{cite book |author=Marlin Levin |year=2002 |title=It Takes a Dream: The Story of Hadassah |publisher=Gefen Books |isbn=965-229-300-8 |page=326 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_yjDCNPmx_8C&dq=%22Beit+Riklis%22&pg=PA326 |quote=Named for Judith Riklis by corporate magnate Meshulam Riklis who financed the building's construction, Beit Riklis opened in 1969.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Oliver Lovat |title=The Forgotten Financier |date=16 March 2019 |url=https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/forgotten-financier-oliver-lovat}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== # [http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Riklis-Family-Corp-company-History.html Bio of Meshulam Riklis] at fundinguniverse.com
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Riklis, Meshulam}} Category:1923 births Category:2019 deaths Category:Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences alumni Category:Businesspeople from Tel Aviv Category:Turkish emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Category:Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:Emigrants from Mandatory Palestine to the United States Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent Category:20th-century American Jews Category:Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium alumni