Sir Isaac Wolfson

Businessman and philanthropist, born in Glasgow, W Scotland, UK. He quit school at 15 to become a salesman, joined Great Universal Stores as a buyer (1932), became managing director (1934), and greatly expanded the business, retiring as life-president (1987). In 1955 he set up the Wolfson Foundation for the advancement of health, education, and youth activities in the UK and the Commonwealth, and as a devout Jew was active in Jewish causes. He was made a baronet in 1962. In 1973 University College, Cambridge, was renamed Wolfson College after a grant from the foundation.

Sir Isaac Wolfson, 1st Baronet FRS (September 17, 1897 – June 20, 1991) was a businessman and philanthropist. He was chairman of The Great Universal Stores Limited 1947-1987 and established the Wolfson Foundation.

Isaac Wolfson was the son of a Jewish cabinet maker, an immigrant from Russia who settled in the Gorbals in Glasgow, Scotland. He was appointed Chairman in the late 1940s and retired in 1987, to be succeeded by Leonard Wolfson, his son.

In 1955, Wolfson established the Wolfson Foundation, to aid in the advancement of education, health and youth activities. This supported the establishment of Wolfson College, Oxford (where he was a Founder Fellow) and Wolfson College, Cambridge among many other projects over the years.

Wolfson married Edith Specterman in 1926. He received a baronetcy in the Queen's 1962 New Year's Honours list, becoming Wolfson of St. Marylebone.