September 16, 2013

Ivan Sacks

Ivan Sacks came from a family with deep South African roots. His parents were born in South Africa, and his father's father emigrated from Russia. His mother died of tuberculosis at age 35 when Ivan was young, so he knew little about her, while his mother's parents were both born in South Africa, including a grandmother from Malmesbury. Ivan grew up in the southern suburbs of Johannesburg in what he recalls, looking back, as a privileged and happy existence. His Jewish upbringing included Sunday school and Hebrew school and attending shul with his father on Shabbat, though he describes his family's practice as culturally rather than strictly religious. From age 12 he attended Christian Brothers College boarding school in Kimberley, where he was the only Jewish boarder.

After boarding school Ivan served his required time in the South African army, which he found easy given his boarding-school discipline, and later traveled to Israel. He earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a focus on accounting and worked briefly with a small firm and with Price Waterhouse. In 1980, as a restless young man of 24 seeking a future more aligned to his thinking, he immigrated to the United States as a single man and chose Dallas. His sister and her husband, who had considered Los Angeles, later moved to Dallas as well. After early jobs, including work with a long distance telephone company, he pursued his goal of stockbroking and, after many interviews, was hired by Don Hodges. Sponsored by the family of the woman he would marry, he gained citizenship, completed his broker training, and became a top-producing broker.

Ivan married Melanie in 1982, in ceremonies held both in South Africa and in Dallas. He found the transition into Jewish life in America challenging, having come from a South Africa where Jews of all practices belonged to one community without denominational labels, unlike the more divided Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform communities he encountered in Dallas. A strong cultural Zionist from a young age, he had collected for Israeli causes as a boy. In Dallas he became deeply involved in Jewish life and helped found a synagogue in the early 1980s. He also served as founding president of a prison Torah institute, an achievement of which he is especially proud. Ivan speaks warmly of the freedom and opportunity America has given him and his children, while cherishing the sincerity and simplicity of life he misses about South Africa.

He has retained his accent and returns to South Africa when he can.

Read Full Transcript