S. Daniel Abraham Biography

S. Daniel Abraham (born 1924) is an American businessman who was born and raised in Long Beach, New York. He is frequently included in Forbes 400 list of the 400 wealthiest Americans, and is notable for his introduction of the Slim-Fast line of diet products in the late 1970s. Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.7 billion.

Mr. Abraham is a dedicated philanthropist to a variety of causes, among them improving health care and nutrition, encouraging Middle East peace, and broadening educational opportunities. His gift to the Mayo Clinic served to create the highly innovative Dan Abraham Healthy Living Center, whose opening in 2007 received national media coverage. Abraham, a WWII veteran, is the founder of the Center for Middle East Peace in Washington, D.C. He is a close friend of many top leaders in the United States, Israel, and throughout the Middle East, and through those personal channels has worked tirelessly over the past two decades to help bring an end to the Arab/Israeli conflict. He is a major sponsor of the Washington-based United States Institute of Peace.

A passionate advocate and supporter of higher education, Abraham has endowed an S. Daniel Abraham Chair in Middle East Policy Studies at Princeton University, and a Chair in Nutritional Medicine at Harvard University Medical School. He has also funded the Dan Abraham School for Business Administration and Economics at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and the S. Daniel Abraham Israel Program at Yeshiva University, and Honors Program at Stern College for Women. Mr. Abraham holds honorary doctorates from Ben-Gurion University, Bar-Ilan University and Yeshiva University. He is also the founder of the New Synagogue of Palm Beach.

A long-time donor to the Democratic Party as well as to the Clinton Foundation, Abraham gave $1.5 million to the party and ranked as the number one contributor of soft money to the national parties in 2000.

Abraham is the author of the book Peace is Possible, with a foreword by President Bill Clinton. The book received praise from many Arab and Israeli leaders involved with the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Abraham also published his memoirs in 2010, entitled "Everything is Possible: Life and Business Lessons from a Self-Made Billionaire and the Founder of Slim Fast"