“I’ve donated to Israel for fifty years, and this is the most important project for me.”
The Technion-Israel Institute of Technology recently held a ceremony to announce the naming its Faculty of Aerospace Engineering after Stephen B. Klein. A plaque honoring the Klein family was unveiled as part of the ceremony hosted by Faculty member Prof. Beni Cukurel during the Technion’s annual Board of Governors Meeting.
Mr. Klein, a member of the Board of Governors, a Technion Guardian, and a Technion Honorary Doctorate and Fellow, is an American businessman and pilot who has contributed greatly to the Technion, the Israeli Air Force, and various institutions in Israel.
“I know the Air Force well and am aware of its hardships on families, which is why I’ve funded 14 civilian projects on Air Force bases – housing, clubs, and kindergartens,” he said. “Over the past two years, we have witnessed the achievements of the Air Force and its air defense systems, many of which originated from the Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at the Technion. That’s why I decided to contribute to the Faculty’s development.”
Mr. Klein also spoke about the growing antisemitism in the U.S. and Israel’s obligation to strive for security and independence. “For me,” he said, “supporting the Faculty means supporting education, research, innovation, and technology – but also the future security of Israel.”
Technion President Prof. Uri Sivan said: “In 1949, as the State of Israel was recovering from the War of Independence, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, with farsighted vision, determined that the State would always depend on a strong Air Force, and for that, an academic department in aeronautical engineering was needed. The mission was given to the Technion, which recruited two renowned experts: Sydney Goldstein, who joined the Technion and was appointed Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Hungarian aeronautical engineer Prof. Theodore von Kármán.
The strategy outlined by Ben-Gurion – based on the understanding that Israel is a small country with no strategic depth – has proven itself in the past two years, a time during which tens of thousands of rockets and missiles were fired at Israel. Despite the onslaught, industry and academia continued functioning thanks to the Air Force and advanced defense systems developed by graduates of the Faculty: Iron Dome, David’s Sling, Arrow, and more. This is a historic full circle, and I congratulate Stephen Klein – it is a great honor for us to name the Faculty after you.”
Thanks to a generous donation from the Estate of Stephen Grand and the lead gift from Stephen Klein, a new building for the Faculty will be constructed next to its original, historic structure. The new building named after Stephen and Nancy Grand will have seven floors, one of them underground, housing advanced laboratories and research and development infrastructure. The construction will adhere to high environmental standards and will be architecturally integrated with the landscape and nearby historic buildings.
Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Daniella Raveh, thanked Stephen Klein and said: “The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering trains many of the engineers who staff Israel’s aerospace and aviation industries, and its graduates fill key and senior positions in the field. The donation will allow the Faculty to recruit new researchers and expand into cutting-edge research areas in aviation and space.
We are deeply grateful for your support, Stephen, and we promise to honor your legacy and make you proud through training generations of outstanding aerospace engineers and fostering research that will benefit all of humanity – and above all, protect the State of Israel and its citizens.”
The new building will significantly increase the number of students at all degree levels and improve teaching and research infrastructure. This academic year, the Faculty has already seen a sharp rise in new students starting their first year at the Technion – a 25% increase compared to last year (2023–2024) and 42% compared to the year before that (2022–2023).
