Rik Katz
Rik Katz came from a Jewish family with Lithuanian origins on both sides. His father was born in South Africa in the Transvaal, the son of a Lithuanian immigrant who arrived with a large family, while his mother came to Cape Town from Lithuania as a young girl of about eight in 1931. His parents met in the Cape Town area, reportedly around the resort town of Muizenberg, and married in 1947. Rik grew up in Kenilworth and Muizenberg with two younger brothers, Jeffrey and Alan, both of whom became doctors. He attended a public boys high school that generations of his family had attended, played rugby and cricket, and continued his Jewish studies through cheder and his bar mitzvah.
At university Rik earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree and became active in Jewish student life, serving as chairman of the campus Jewish student association and traveling to Israel on leadership courses. In 1967, at the time of the Six Day War, he spent months volunteering on a kibbutz in Israel. He trained with an audit firm that eventually became part of Arthur Andersen in South Africa, then moved into industry with the Frame textile group in Durban and later worked with international trade and finance companies. He met his wife at an engagement party in June 1971, and the couple married in July 1972 and had three children, including their eldest son Gregory.
Concerned about army conscription and the turmoil of the era, the family decided to emigrate. Rik arrived in Dallas alone in January 1986, initially staying with a Dallas acquaintance he had met through United Jewish Appeal work in Cape Town. Through connections in the South African and Jewish business communities, he secured sponsorship and a visa and eventually brought his family over. He spent about twelve years with Arrow Industries under the Rosenberg family, remaining through its sale to ConAgra, and served as treasurer of Akiba Academy. Active in local congregations, he was involved with a synagogue near his home and later moved with a breakaway community. In 1998 he relocated to Atlanta for a role in the charcoal briquette industry, where he continued to live and stay connected to family in Dallas.
Full Transcript
good morning good morning this morning we're interviewing Rick cats as part of the roots to boots project for the Dallas Jewish Historical Society thank you for coming to us this morning I understand you've come all the way from Atlanta yes for the interview yes you used to work you used to live here in Dallas you've come back to visit family for thanksgiving so we appreciate your taking your time to be with us this morning what we like to do in these interviews rick is to start by first asking you to tell us a little bit about your your family history coming from Europe so if
you could start a little bit tell us about the family history on both your maternal and paternal side coming from Europe prior to the South African experience sure okay so starting with my paternal side my father was actually born in in South Africa in the Transvaal his father came from Lithuania I'm not sure of the date but they were all born in South Africa my mother came from Lithuania as well she actually came as a young girl of about eight years old in 1931 her appearance left just sure well my on the pit my paternal side my father was actually born in South Africa in
the Transvaal his father came from the theor Aenea I'm not sure of the date but that all the kids were born in South Africa and I think he came with already as a married man he was a family of eight and they've all moved to South Africa on my mother's side my mother actually came as a young girl of about eight years old in 1931 with a mother or father they came to cape town because her mother had relatives from molefi way knew who already there and and that's that's kind of their history my father father moved to cape town from the transvaal and they
met in cape town and were married in 1947 how did they meet I believe they let you know those days muizenberg was the hot spot and there was a blue moon hotel there where the younger adults used to go dancing and I believe that either met at the beach or at one of the lumen hotel affairs so I met in 1947 you said well they got married in 1947 so I believe they must admit the year before it was April twentieth so probably the year before and then tell us about the the family history from there in terms of their marriage and the children okay
so they were married in 1947 my mother lived in muizenberg my father lived in that killer with my mother was one of two children she had a brother my father was one of five he had three brothers and a sister and they originally moved into a house in kenilworth where i was i was born and lived in that house for a few years together with my two brothers we've all born and lived there what were the names of your brothers Jeffrey and Alan are they older or younger both younger Jeffrey's in Houston Texas is a doctor there and Alan is in Winnipeg Canada and he's
a doctor there on my father's side all three brothers did medicine my father was an attorney and we we've lived in muizenberg for a while where my mother was born and lived and my grandparents lived and then moved back to Kenilworth what was where did you go to school to go to public or private I went to a public school peaceful weinberg boys high school I went to the same school of my father and all his family went to and my brothers and I'll our cousins with this I think there were 10 capsules that went to that school all at the same time well over
probably a period of 30 years hahaha and it was a boy Scott the boys yes in some South Africa most of the schools at that time were very on the British cultural side so there were boys schools and girls schools you started in what we call sub a which is great one and we went all the way to stand at ten which was of course grade 12 huh and it was already in the sameness on the same school grounds and what types of of youth activities were you involved in after school either either a Zionist nature or sports well I was heavily involved in sports
I played rugby and cricket once you know rugby in winter cute in summer I also went to pay de which was kind of the the normal thing to do but what I did do is I went ok de and continued my studies off to my bar mitzvah and wrote a the equivalent of a matriculation exam in Hebrew him at through the k'da basically so I've got that certificate as a kind of others would have taken it as part of their high school graduation subjects and I did it cut it off to school sometimes going off to rugby practice and they kept me pretty busy which
i think is a good way to bring up kids we out of trouble were you involved in any uh like Jewish Scouts groups or anything that sort know while at school I was not involved in any youth movements my youngest brother Allen became heavily involved in up on him but I really didn't have time i was totally absorbed in the extracurricular activities at school and haider when i went to university I got involved and I was at one stage chairman of the the student Jewish association that kept on University and results on the National Committee and attended meetings in the in Johannesburg which was a
much bigger Jewish community and even went to Israel a couple of times as a Jewish leader on leadership courses tell us a little about your college experience them well I did what's called a Bachelor of Commerce which is a business degree really concentrating and majoring in accounting I want you to become a chartered accountant or CPA it wasn't really a very taxing time I did have quite a lot of free time I played a lot of chess and bridge in the student union I played rugby at college as well and you know we had a good social tum well at it it works a little
different South Africa of course from here it isn't broken by semester you do one subject for the full year so you would do accounting one in year one and they're counting two in year two counting three and year three it was a 3d year degree are then joined an audit firm which you have to do to become a chartered accountant spent three years there did a 1x3 a postgraduate year before i could write the board exams to become a chartered accountant one thing I did do in 1967 at the time of the Six Day War was my first year at college I spent a year
in the Army which you have to do in South Africa after graduating in 65 and spent six months in Israel as a volunteer just off to the war arrived they probably a week after the war and we r tronic kibbutz in Israel for six months or five months to be exact and of course that was a very very warming and gratifying experience did you consider moving there at that point um not really I was really focused on what I wanted to do riya was and that it wouldn't have been the right thing to try and move at that time funnily enough though in 1948 my
dad had qualified as an attorney that before and he wanted to gain 48 and volunteer the set of Israel was proclaimed war and they judge at the time persuaded him that it was not the best thing to do at that time he was already married and that again so I guess there was a kind of the history to me wanting to go some 19 years later huh when did you meet your wife I met my wife actually it was quite funny i did accounting and i was friendly with a group of other guys doing accounting it was then after I'd finished graduated from Fulton study
and was working and I went to an engagement party or one of the guys that we studied with and played to little cards with and his in his fiance was my wife's best friend and we met at that engagement party that was in June of 1971 and we got engaged in december of that year got married the following year july 72 so we still are very friendly with him although we don't live in the same country but my wife and and either zone aim talk via email really frequently and we planning to go actually to Israel they're having their first grandchild having a vomits for
next year and we are planning to go for that so tell me about a little bit about your business life in South Africa ok so I worked for three years for an audit firm it was actually a capture firm that then became a national firm and finally became what became author Anderson in South Africa so just by accident i'm considered an alumna of arthur andersen which i guess today isn't as meaningful as it used to be and after that when i was able to leave the audit profession which i wanted to do when I finished with my articles i joined the frame group which was
a young the real huge textile conglomerates based in Durban South Africa my father had done some business with the Chairman some property transactions and he knew that I was stunning and living in Cape Town it before when he said well if he's interested in the job didn't give me a call and I'll ended up moving to Durban after we got married and worked there for three years at the frame group and then moved to a an international trade and finance company as was a privately owned business also based in South Africa Capetown I did some work for them in in Johannesburg for six months and
then moved back to catch on but then we'd had one child and that child name is Gregory and he currently lives here in Dallas and is married no children yet and spent three years with them and then moved to another international trade finance company as animal senior capacity and finally left there with plans to move to to the United States so tell tell me a little bit about why you chose to leave South Africa and live to the US well my our first son was born in 1976 was which was a tumultuous time the shot shot for riots in South Africa and conscription into the
army was was the order of the day and guys were being stations in Angola and on the borders and some fighting and what and she said to me when our kids get bigger I don't want them to have to go to the South African army and go and fight for something we don't believe in and you need to promise me we'll move and of course that so that was 1976 we had another son and a daughter and our 1986 well 85 I guess we decided that I was at an age that I was running out of time to re re establish a career and it
was time to leave so that's when we started making plans to leave how did you choose Dallas that's an interesting story I was involved with the United Jewish appeal in cape town as one of the young people on the committee there and every year there's a group out of the United States children of large very large donors we used to go to various countries on a litter and that year and that we bought it probably 80 for the true was in cape town and we had a luncheon with him and I'll ended up sitting next to a young lady from Dallas who was that person
Melanie poses was her name she's now melody Bloomberg living in Chicago lost i'm honored and she said if you ever want to come to the states give me a call I'm in Dallas I'm very involved in the community I can introduce you to the community and her parents had retired to to Kansas I think they were in the shoe retail business I'm obviously done very well so when I came to States my brother was already in Houston in being in New York and Cleveland but settled in Houston and he didn't know anybody in the business world to speak of he was a doctor so after
spending I stir came of my own on a visitor's visa but two huge suitcases with the intention of trying to find a way to stay the states and in room family over and he really there were no connections in Houston that works are called melons and I'm on my way she was at that time buying refurbishing and selling houses and she actually was in a house in Highland Park or university park I think off in wood and stone Lee stonegate one of the two and she was living in that house on her own and she said you know she's fixing it up and get a
salad I'm welcome to come and stay there and see what's cooking in Dallas and that's what I did and she introduced me to a lot of the people attended tekspek meetings APEC meetings and met a lot of the senior business people in Dallas nothing really came directly from that but Tony Abrams from South Africa was involved in the sheriff yeah and I'd met him and he asked a few people at sheriff is anybody who wants to sponsor young accountants what's a young anymore really and somebody did Steve Aaron runs constantly and then it was a smaller business he a son and her somebody else was
running it and he said he was prepared to sponsor me so we met an application I've got an h1 visa without having to leave town well then I think 10 days I got an attorney actually through Marty Ackerman mrs. memory who was with when he came to the to Dallas he was with commercial metals and they had an attorney who did a lot of their applications for immigration at that time and he was a Spanish gentleman and it was really very reasonable and did a great job Ian assistant to to go and in the for me and it went pretty smoothly for somebody who came on a visitor's visa and I worked for Steve Aaron for about three or four months and he said you know really don't have a full-time job with somebody of your caliber you need to really find a real job so
to speak and i've got i got introduced to the rosenberg family and amit with marcus and his son Steve and they hired me in a kind of accounting analysis position with arrow with arrow industries and I spent 12 years with their own industries went through the sale to con Agra and remained on for a few well for six years 65 years so at one point how much how long were you here by yourself before valve and the children i arrived in the family enough i watched the superbowl 1986 in london at my cousin's house and then flew out here just off to the Super Bowl
of 1986 which was the first of him I think and they came round about the 19th of January of April the bed in the three case was a pouring with the weather was so bad I had to stop under a bridge coming home from the airport that was the introduction to Dallas so it's it sounds like you made some great connections with the Dallas business community yes I did as far as the community in general and how how did you feel in terms of your basic integration into the community well to be a hundred percent truthful yes I guess is what you want absolutely the
south african community here and in other cities are wonderful and the support system is nothing like you'll see anywhere else in the world i believe the weather South Africans support each other and they were fabulous the the local American Jewish community were not that welcoming for example I wanted to join the JCC I didn't even have a job that they want to and somewhere whether they said well if you want to join to go to pay something and otherwise you can't come here I wanted my kids to go to a Jewish day school they wouldn't take them without money I didn't laugh I was not
a wealthy boy I was on my own I didn't even have a good job yet i was with Stevie run on you know a few hundred dollars a week so it was a big struggle you know I used money that was left in South Africa until there was no more and it was really i did not get involved in much of the jewish community activities what i did you because of joining arrow and the rosenberg family was i did become treasurer of akiba for a couple of years so let's all just like to akiba eventually the couple went to akiba my oldest went actually to
what was it what's now full bellies of the Levine yeah yes living Academy it was not that at the time he went there the younger to win to akiba and then I was treasurer there for a while the Rosenbergs of course were heavily involved in funding it with our chores right and and that was my main activity in the in the community at that time I then I was joined first I join the the Schule p.m. close by you tianya 3l to ferret Israel and my oldest Eddie's vomits were there and I was friendly with Daryl my robots both Finkelstein was involved there and that was kind of a a split personality sure on the sides who can be separated in the middle you could be with your wife and we were used to separate so I sat on the right-hand side my wife was out on the left hand side and when when they decided to stop the commercial I moved across with the leaders of that munity was involved a quite a bit with remedy brofsky and i helped they on the committee
and and spent the rest of my time into the stay we we are members of how about in atlanta to death so at what point then did you leave dallas and go to atlanta right well eventually i am by mutual mutual arrangement actually i left conagra and i had always worked with owners of businesses even if they were big companies in south africa when the owners went public they stayed in to control mostly so i'd been used to working in a kind of that as a proxy for an owner collector was a huge conglomerate none of the managers seemed interested in what was best for
the company they were interested was in what was best for themselves which i think is quite common in big business in the states so i was really not happy there and i fought a lot with some of the people and eventually we agreed it was best that I leave and one of the one of the products that we may was a charcoal briquets and I've been involved in the association representing the company in that industry and a competitor in Atlanta offered me a job they wanted to roll up in the industry by out all the private label manufacturers and hired me and that's what we
did that moved to Atlanta 98 and have been there ever since you see any similarities or differences between the dalles community and the Atlanta Community Jewish community not a lot of difference I think today they are there a lot of South Africans have very involved in the community here they are there too from that point of view it's very similar I think the I think Atlanta is a more conservative kind of old style of living to act to Dallas I think Dallas is a little faster and a little more up market generally speaking so from that point of view Atlanta actually is less of a
have sort of a keeping up with the Joneses type of environment was here I think it's people dress better they go out more they go fancy reading so that communities in some ways is a little easier to relate to tons but I love Dallas and we'd come back in maybe to retire one day because my kids all grew up your preferred to stay here and they're all here and our friendship were very good friends we had as many it was actually sanjana when we when our son got married you know we had friends from living in South Africa we had friends from Cape Town friends
that we got to know in Durban when we were there for three years we don't have anymore one does one's in Toronto Canada ones it down in Fort Lauderdale and they came and then we had our friends from Atlanta which were maybe 20 couples and then we had a friends from dallas which another 20 couples you know sir it was a kind of meeting of everybody yeah it's quite wonderful you have any family left in South Africa my wife sister and her family live in South Africa as much as we asked them to get the kids out of there they living there we went to
a wedding day in March the second if you've got married other than that nobody well I have an aunt who was married to my father's brother and her children look there but over the years you know we've been away 28 years really and you don't have that close connection any longer do you go often to the server while our parents were alive every year or at least every second year Beverly by wife went every year because her parents really couldn't afford to come that often my parents came every year and for my father died basically faust away my mother kept coming off to that but
yes we were there frequently at least every second dr wins is there anything you miss about home you know I'm a person who looks forward all the time so it's kind of out of mind out of sight out of mind when I'm there I love it and and but I don't say well lovely so would move back I love the United States of yet I've really taken to it and I think in the long run this was the best mood one could make it was the right decision it's given my kids opportunities they would not have had their and and the lifestyle skirt you know
the Senate of living areas is really very high if you look at the world you can live in again and virtually anywhere else on a budget and so yeah I miss the beach we go to the beach chair i miss friends and we try and see the moon again are there any traditions or foods that you particularly like that you have brought with you over the years from South Africa to the United States for sure why don't you tell me now hobbies besides borough horse which is the literally farm-sauce internet where there's always a South African ready to make it whichever city you live in
and in Atlanta we've actually got a European butcher who one of the South Africans gave him the recipe and he makes it for us and does a fine job is that there's bull Tom which is the dried meat and we have friends in Atlanta to do that problems you can't get the eland correct what you may have only beef now I llendo Springboks spin was excellent no ostrich so it's all beef and then of course my wife is a very wonderful cook so her mother was a great tale of making and she make Stabler twice a year probably before pace up and before rosh hashanah
distributes them to friends and family one time was selling them when we really needed the money she makes skiffle both of those better than you get any in any shop here or there basically some of the people here in Dallas know about unsure and well the whole Friday night deal you know chicken soup Canela no kreplach anymore very they lost favor somewhere along the line are there any laws that that are different that you know of between South Africa and the United States laws generally laws yeah generally laws make sure probably tell me about that well there's a huge difference really in i would say
business ethics oh tell me that sounds very i would say yes south africa is very much on the english style and four years a handshake you could rely you'd mention eternia got an agreement signed but you could trust somebody and the agreement was really written to as a a recording of what you would read in the state's there no ethics the only sin here is getting caught you can't trust anybody you've got to watch everything every legal documents to the last T&I because if there's a loophole the other party will find it I've known other neighbor who look next door to me up here and
he did a deal with somebody and they fleeced him they took he invested maybe hundred thousand he got zero back only because of ethics so I learned very quickly here that don't trust anybody make became very familiar with attorneys and I did a lot of legal work in south africa i was lending money you know that's like you've got if you could have documents so and then of course the whole situation when somebody goes bankrupt is different ER how is that in South Africa every bankruptcy is managed by the court there's no such thing as debtor-in-possession you can go bankrupt and continue to run your
business and take out the same amount of money for yourself and have some your creditors get paid less and less as you busy living out of their money which is what it happens here there it has to go to a court and external managers appointed and that's a pretty sister that's the British system south african company laws all british i think some of the south african attorneys spend so many months of the year working in London as well so that's a big difference that I had to learn quickly here to this day I'm very I'm still very familiar with company law and bankruptcies I mean
we sell to people go bankrupt happens and you have no control yeah you're kind of at the mercy of your of your debtor or what he decides to do for you that you have to accept there's no way that you can do any better going through the legal system so that I'd say is the biggest difference um how are you involved in the Jewish community of the ladder to a small extent what what is your involvement we we get involved with the both really with my wife with weed so with my wife I don't do a lot else right now don't leave it at that
okay is there anything else that you think is significant and important that I haven't asked you about that you'd like to share with us either about family about South Africa any of your experiences in the communities that you've lived in no just like to you know really emphasize how wonderful the South African communities abroad are and how they help and rely on each other and they become your family away from her much more so than the communities that you enter I think if we had to go to a city where there were no South Africans it would be a real tough integration here and I
understand it to some extent because you're innocent you're in your community why would you want to have to welcome strangers just because they arrive until you know and unless you have a business dealing where you meet somebody with specific idea of getting to know somebody I even us today and I when youngsters come you can only know so many people you can only spend time with so many people we have a huge number of friends and acquaintances and he probably wouldn't be able to add too many more to that so I do understand it but that is something that immigrants need to understand of course
they're not waiting for you well it's very nice to have the support system it is is wonderful brick it's just been a wonderful pleasure speaking with you today I thank you so much for taking your time away from your family to come and talk with me today sure what I think it's it is important and I wish my parents had done this because I we you know things time flies and at the end you haven't asked all the questions and they no longer they do on sir that's right and this will be a legacy for for your family for your children and for the Dallas
Jewish community sure really appreciate your time today thank you so much thank you