Benjamin N. Berger

Courtesy of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest
Courtesy of the Jewish Historical Society of the Upper Midwest

Benjamin N. Berger

Information based on excerpts from Thank you, America: The biography of Benjamin N. Berger by Robert K Krishef, published by Dillon Press, 1982

Benjamin N. Berger, son of Chaim and Roza (Kalichman) Berger, was born in 1897 in Ostrowiec.   His siblings were Syza (Saul), Leizor, Isaac, Binyamin, Cyrul (m. Mandel), and Myndale (m. Rosenblatt).

Chaim Berger
Chaim Berger
Roza Berger
Roza Berger

At age 16, he moved to the United States.  He later helped his brothers emigrate to the United States, two by way of Mexico. His parents, and his married sisters and their families, all died in the Holocaust.

Ben was a businessman based in Minneapolis, MN.  He is well known for being one of the original owners of the Minneapolis Lakers basketball team.

Ben and his wife Mildred were philanthropists and benefactors; the establishment of the Mildred and Benjamin Berger Chair in Criminology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is one of their contributions.

Benjamin passed away in 1988 at the age of 91.

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Thank you, America: The biography of Benjamin N. Berger

Krishef, Robert K ; Published by Dillon Press, 1982

Polish article on the Lakers and Ben Berger/Ostrowiec connection