Scholarships in Memory of Albert Gnat
August 4th, 2015
The Gnat family, who is from Canada, loves Israel. Since 2005 they give generous funds to students every year. Albert Gnat was a lawyer, a businessman, and one of the shareholders of IKEA. He played a big role in finally bringing IKEA to Israel, right here in Netanya. After his tragic death in 2004, his wife started a scholarshiop fund to award students from Netanya, the city where the first IKEA in Israel was established.
The scholarships were awarded to 74 students, residents of the city, majoring in economics, business, and law. We held a ceremony in his honor last week and were lucky enough to have the Gnat family and mayor of Netanya, Miriam Fierberg-Ikar in attendance. The ceremony took place on Tuesday, August 4th with his wife Annie, his daughter Lisa, and their grandchild Mitchel.
The Gnat family visited IKEA branch in Netanya, and met with management and staff, and laid a wreath of flowers on a Square in memorial of the late Albert Gnat.
We are pleased and excited to take part in the most important event of heritage preservation of my late husband by fostering education in Israel. Albert understood from an early age the importance and necessity of acquiring an education and he always said that education, training, and perseverance lead to success. Albert fell in love with the wonderful city of Netanya, and wanted to contribute to his favorite city. We are proud of the students and wish them success in their way. Our thanks also to the mayor of Netanya that set up this beautiful event
The Gnat family has decided to commemorate Albert in a field dear to him - education. I am sure he is watching us from above and is happy, excited, and proud of his dear family
