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Family philanthropy

Henry

Holocaust survivor

The donors

Henry Orenstein: A businessman

Henry Orenstein

Henry Orenstein arrived in the United States in 1947 and began his career as a salesman. Soon after a toy bride caught his eye due to its high price ($ 29.90, a price that would be equal to 
$ 200 today). Henry decided to try and create a doll model at an affordable price, and soon became an inventor and toy maker. His main activity was to make copies of expensive dolls sold in department stores. In the 1950s, Henry founded "Topper Toys", a factory that produced highly sought-after toys in the United States: popular dolls named Susy Cute, Dolly Surprise and toy cars named Johnny Lightning. He also created a then innovative doll, a doll that blinked its eyes that he later patented. In his career he owned over 100 patents.

Henry Orenstein: A businessman- topper toys logo
Henry Orenstein: A businessman- suzy cute doll
Henry Orenstein: A businessman:johnny lightning car

Henry Orenstein noticed special toys manufactured in Japan: toys that changed their shape from vehicles to robots - the Transformers. In 1983, he flew to the Takara toy company in Japan to acquire the rights to distribute the Transformers in the United States.

Henry approached the U.S. toy manufacturer Hasbro and persuaded them to produce the Transformers, which have been popular toys ever since.

Henry Orenstein: A businessman: transformers robot
Henry play poker

Henry is an outstanding poker player and believes that poker is a fascinating and challenging game that combines many abilities and skills such as: odds/risk calculation, good memory and the ability to identify reactions of the players participating in the game. As he watched televised poker tournaments, he realized that the game bored viewers at home since they had no way of knowing which cards the players held.

 

Henry devised another invention and got another patent, which changed poker games worldwide, and created "windows" at the poker table so that a camera could shoot the cards under the table and give viewers a view of the cards held by the players. This invention revolutionized television viewers interest in poker games and since then, poker games have been broadcasted, receive wide exposure and their audience is growing. Henry also became a producer of poker tournaments on television.

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