Paul Soros noted for innovation in shipping
He was also prominent supporter of the arts
NEW YORK — Paul Soros, a successful innovator in shipping, philanthropist and the older brother of billionaire financier George Soros, died in New York City on Saturday after a long bout with a host of illnesses, said his son Peter Soros. He was 87.
Soros, an engineer and businessman, founded Soros Associates, a world leader in the design and development of bulk handling and port facilities. The company has operations in 91 countries. Soros also held a number of patents and wrote more than 100 technical articles on the transportation of materials and related shipping design issues.
“His genius, which was really reflected in his work, was really a function of seeing what everyone was seeing and finding new ways to solve interesting problems,” said Peter Soros.
Soros also drew upon his own immigrant biography in establishing with his wife the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans in 1997. The foundation’s $ 75- million endowment funds graduate education for immigrants and the children of immigrants.
Soros was born Paul Schwartz in Hungary in 1926. His father changed the family name to Soros a decade later, in response to growing anti- Semitism.
Growing up, Soros was a talented athlete who skied for the Hungarian national team. But an injury kept him from competing in the 1948 Olympics, his son said, and that same year, Soros immigrated to the U. S.
He won a scholarship to St. Lawrence University in northern New York in exchange for coaching the school’s ski team and later earned a graduate degree from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University in
Soros met his wife, Daisy, who had also fled Hungary, at the International House in New York City. They married in 1951 and had two sons, Jeffrey and Peter.
He was involved culturally, underwriting for years the Midsummer Night Swing at the Lincoln Center and supporting the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera.
Soros is survived by his wife, brother, two sons, a daughter- inlaw, four grandchildren and a stepgranddaughter.