November 4: The Memorial Builder

Brazilian-born David Resnick, who became one of Israel’s most prominent modernist architects after moving there in 1949, died at 88 on this date in 2012. His best-known works include Yad Kennedy, a memorial to John F. Kennedy in the Jerusalem Forest (pictured above), and Jerusalem’s Yad Lebanim, the Soldiers Home complex. Resnick trained for four years with Oscar Niemeyer, Brazil’s most acclaimed architect. Resnick won the Israel Prize for Architecture in 1995, and the award for architecture from Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in 2009. Over a period of forty-five years he designed more than 150 projects, including the Hecht Synagogue on the Hebrew University’s Givat Ram campus, the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Brigham Young University’s Jerusalem Center (the “Mormon University”), the Hassidic neighborhood in Hatzor Haglilit, the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Jerusalem (today the Dan Jerusalem Hotel), and the School of Education on the Hebrew University’s Mt. Scopus campus. “Resnick’s unique style was an expression of his innovative and original planning combined with his use of advanced materials and technologies.” —Van Leer Jerusalem Institute