Solo Dwek has combined a highly successful career in international finance with a lifetime of commitment to Israel and dedication to philanthropic causes.
Solo Dwek was born in Beirut to an old established Sephardic family. He began his secondary school studies at the American College of Beirut, but as attitudes toward local Jews became increasingly politicized during Israel’s War of Independence, in 1948, the family left Lebanon. They resettled in Lausanne, where he completed his high school education. After completing engineering studies in Mulhouse, France, Dwek moved to Japan to oversee the family interests (first established there in 1932), and remained there for close to two decades. He is married to Beirut-born Jeannette de Picciotto and the couple has two children, a son, Marco, and a daughter, Claudia, both born in Japan.
In 1963, as more native Japanese entered the world of international trade, the Dwek Trading Company was sold to the Ricoh Group and the family relocated to Italy, where Dwek and his younger brother, Maurizio z”l, became international financiers involved in trade finance, corporate finance, and capital markets. In association with Italian banks, they founded the corporate finance company Fineurop Soditic – a Milan-based advisory firm that specializes in high value-added corporate financial services.
In partnership with his brother, Solo Dwek has undertaken a wide variety of financial initiatives. These include export finance joint ventures with major international corporations and institutions, among them, Fiat, Finsider, IMI Bank, Banca Commercial Italiana (Banca Intesa San Paolo), and Erste Bank der Oesterreichischen Sparkassen.
The brothers’ strong identification with the State of Israel and solidarity with its citizens is reflected in their support for many Israeli institutions, such as the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center and the Israel Museum. For over twenty years, the Dwek family has been a generous supporter of the Weizmann Institute, giving concrete expression to their friendship through a series of significant initiatives, both in Rehovot and abroad.
Solo Dwek has been an active supporter of the Institute’s activities in Europe, especially of the collaborative research program with the Mario Negri Institute of Pharmacological Research in Italy. In 1999, he and his brother funded the construction of the Dwek Campus Center and established a major fund for biomedical and, especially, fertility, research. In 2008, the family endowed the Solo Dwek and Maurizio Dwek Research School of Chemical Science and recently funded the Dwek Institute for Cancer Therapy Research of the Moross Integrated Cancer Center.
Their munificent support is making an invaluable contribution to the education of scientific leaders of the future.