José Ephim Mindlin (September 8, 1914 – February 28, 2010) was a Brazilian lawyer, businessperson and bibliophile, born to Ukrainian Jewish parents from Odessa.

On March 23, 2013 a building was built in the university's campus specifically to maintain this massive library, named after the Guita and José Mindlin Foundation, who made the donation.

[4][5] The organization was responsible for torture, disappearance and extra judicial killings and kidnappings of numerous Brazilians who opposed the dictatorship.

[6][7] After retiring from the business world, Mindlin began collecting and preserving rare books, beginning with a 1740 edition of Discours sur l'Histoire universelle (Discourse on Universal History) by Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet.

On 20 June 2006, Mindlin was elected member of the Academia Brasileira de Letras, occupying chair number 29, left open since the death of Brazilian author Josué Montello.