Dan Tolkowsky

Early life and education

Tolkowsky was born in Tel Aviv on 17 January 1921 to Shmuel Tolkowsky, and was the grandson of Isaac Leib Goldberg. His father was born in Antwerp, Belgium, his mother in Vilnius under imperial Russian rule,. During World War I, the family moved to London, where his two older sisters were born. He was educated at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium, and in 1936, he joined the Haganah. In 1938, he went to London to study at Imperial College London and graduated with a B.Sc. in engineering in 1941.

Military service

In 1942, Tolkowsky volunteered for the Royal Air Force (RAF). He took flight courses in South Africa and Egypt, earning his wings in 1943. He went on to serve as a Spitfire fighter pilot participating in battles against the Nazis in Italy, southern France, and Greece. At the end of World War II, he served as a transport pilot, and was later stationed in Palestine at RAF Lydda (now Lod). He was discharged from the RAF in June 1946 with the rank of flight lieutenant.

After the war, Tolkowsky moved to Britain and worked as a mechanical engineer. In December 1947, he secretly began helping efforts to purchase aircraft for Sherut Avir, the Haganah's air arm and forerunner of the Israeli Air Force (IAF). In 1948, a few days before the Israeli Declaration of Independence, Tolkowsky returned to Palestine. He served in the Israeli Air Force during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, participating in bombing attacks on the Egyptian front.

Between 1948 and 1951, he led the IAF’s training department. He was then appointed chief of staff to IAF commander Haim Laskov until 1953. He was appointed Commander of the IAF in May 1953 and served until July 1958. As commander, he spearheaded the IAF's modernization and acquisition of jet-propelled aircraft. The IAF received its first fighter jets and took part in the 1956 Suez Crisis. After his term as commander ended in 1958, he was succeeded by future president Ezer Weizman. He was then appointed to head the Planning and Scientific Research Administration of the Ministry of Defense until 1959.

File:Dan Tolkovsky 1944.jpg| Tolkowsky (left) during his RAF service at the Jewish sailors' club in Haifa, 1944. File:Dan Tolkovsky (85069).jpg|Tolkowsky (standing) and Ben-Gurion inaugurate the 117 Squadron "First Jet" at Ramat David Airbase with the first Gloster Meteor F.8 fighter jets on 17 June 1953. File:The Sinai War Generals.jpg|Israeli generals Haim Laskov, , Asaf Simhoni, and Tolkowsky in the Sinai Peninsula, 1956. File:DAVID BEN GURION & SENIOR G.H.Q. STAFF OFFICERS.jpg|Meeting of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and senior Israeli officers, 1957 (Tolkowsky seated on far right). File:Dan Tolkowsky -French Legion of Honor1958.jpg|Tolkowsky being decorated with the French Légion d'honneur, 1958

Civilian life

In 1959, Tolkowsky joined the Discount Bank Investment Corporation (DBIC), originally an arm of the Bank, later a public company in Israel. He was appointed Managing Director in 1965 and Vice-Chairman in 1980. Beginning in 1962, DBIC was the first financial institution in Israel to invest in local hi-tech industry. Tolkowsky helped Uzia Galil start the technology holding company Elron Electronic Industries in 1962 as well as the medical technology company Elscint, which became the first Israeli company to trade on Nasdaq in 1972. In 1985, Tolkowsky, in partnership with his son Gideon and Frederick Adler, a noted American venture capital investor, founded Athena, the first venture fund in Israel, to invest in Israeli and American ventures, mostly hi-tech, which operated until 1997.

Tolkowsky also held a series of minor government posts. He was a member of the National Council for Research and Development, served on the Israel Atomic Energy Commission, participated in a commission of inquiry that investigated an accident at Lod Airport, was a member of the Israel Securities Authority plenum, and headed the public council of Tel Aviv University's business administration school. In 1997, he served on the Ciechanover Commission, which investigated a failed Mossad assassination attempt against Hamas leader Khaled Mashal in Jordan.

Tolkowsky was a Commander of the French Legion of Honour (1958), held a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the Technion Israel Institute of Technology (1980), and held an award from the joint US-Israel Science and Technology Authority named after Yitzhak Rabin. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honor by Isaac Herzog in 2023.

Tolkowsky married his wife, Miriam, in 1948; she died in 2015. He had a daughter and two sons, Roni, David, and Gideon, as well as nine grandchildren. He died at his home in Tel Aviv, on 28 November 2025, at the age of 104.

References

Sources

• Jews from Palestine are sent to the RAF pilot course in Rhodesia, IAF Official Site. Accessed 9 June 2006.

References

1. (28 November 2025). "מפקד חיל האוויר לשעבר דן טולקובסקי הלך לעולמו בגיל 104 – ערוץ 14".
2. "Aluf Dan Tolkowsky".
3. (31 December 2025). "Major General Dan Tolkowsky, wartime RAF Spitfire pilot who helped create the Israeli Air Force".
4. (8 November 2014). "Lest we forget our Jewish brothers in arms". Ynetglobal.
5. (28 November 2025). "מפקד חיל האוויר לשעבר דן טולקובסקי הלך לעולמו בגיל 104". Ynet.
6. (28 November 2025). "מפקד חיל האוויר לשעבר, דן טולקובסקי, הלך לעולמו בגיל 104 – וואלה חדשות".
7. (28 November 2025). "מפקד חיל האוויר לשעבר דן טולקובסקי הלך לעולמו בגיל 104".
8. "The Israeli Air Force".
9. "Dan Tolkowsky, former air force commander and Israeli tech pioneer, dies at 104".
10. Cohen, Eliezer. (1993). "Israel's Best Defense". Orion Books.
11. "אתר חיל-האוויר".
12. (28 November 2025). "Former Israeli Air Force head Maj.-Gen. Dan Tolkowsky dead at 104".
13. [http://www.calcalist.co.il/internet/articles/0,7340,L-3273566,00.html מוסף עצמאות: האיש שהיה שם] {{in lang. he
14. (2 July 2023). "President Herzog announces wide and diverse list of Medal of Honor recipients, marking Israel's 75th year of independence".
15. "⁨אלוף דן _טולקובסק .*‬קומנדר לג>_ון הכבוד־ ⁩ {{!}} ⁨דבר⁩ {{!}} 25 נובמבר 1958 {{!}} אוסף העיתונות {{!}} הספרייה הלאומית".
16. http://its.technion.ac.il/appreciationScience.php ; {{Webarchive. link. (25 September 2013 {{in lang). he
17. (2 August 1996). "Sharansky presents awards on first U.S. trip as minister". [[J. The Jewish News of Northern California]].
18. (9 July 2023). "President Herzog hosts Presidential Medal of Honor Award Ceremony".