Technion Mourns

The Technion mourns the passing of Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Lapidot, 10th Commander of the Israeli Air Force and President of Technion from 1998-2001.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Lapidot, a native of Kfar Saba, graduated from the Isaeli Air Force pilot’s course with honors in 1954. He later participated as a pilot in Operation Kadesh, as a squadron commander in the Six Day War and as the Hatzor Airbase commander during the Yom Kippur War. From 1987-1982 he was Commander of the Israeli Air Force.

During his tenure as president, he took Technion to new heights: centers of excellence at the university flourished, breakthroughs were made in the discovery of stem cells (Prof. Joseph Itskovitz-Eldor) and in the development of electronic biological devices (Profs. Erez Braun, Yoav Eichen, and Uri Sivan); the magnificent Henry and Marilyn Taub and Family Science and Technology Center was inaugurated; Distinguished Profs. Avram Hershko and Aaron Ciechanover – later Nobel Laureates – won the prestigious Lasker Award; and the Atidim program at Technion was launched, encouraging outstanding high school graduates from the periphery to study for an academic degree.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Lapidot, who held a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Tel Aviv University and a master’s degree from Stanford University, died yesterday at the age of 85.