Joseph D. Hackmey is an Israeli businessman, insurance company executive, actuary, investor, and an art and stamp collector.
[5] The Israel Phoenix corporate collection, consisting of 2,200 items, most of them paintings and a small quantity of sculptures, was estimated in 2002 to be worth 216 million shekels.
[9] The international collection included Picasso, Matisse, Robert Rauschenberg, Barnett Newman, Jasper Johns, Jean Dubuffet, Mark Rothko.
[9][10] The Israeli collection included Reuven Rubin, Yehezkel Streichman, Arie Aroch, Joseph Zaritsky, Yitzhak Danziger, Marcel Janco, Mordecai Ardon, Aviva Uri, Raffi Lavie, Avigdor Stematsky.
[8][11] Professor Mordechai Omer, director of the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, studied the collection and published a selection of it in a 600-page book.
His collections[10] of Ceylon and New Zealand Commonwealth stamps are considered to be the finest ever assembled for those countries, and Hackmey was presented with an International Award in recognition for his record.
The item bears eight rare Romanian cap de bour ("Bull's Head") stamps, issued by the principality of Moldova in 1858.
In 2009 he received an honorary doctorate degree from the Tel Aviv University in recognition of his various contributions to Israeli society, including art, music and culture.
[7] Hackmey is a member of the board of governors of the Weizmann Institute of Science,[13] the Israel Museum, the Tel Aviv Museum,[14] the Tel Aviv University,[15] the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,[5] the Israeli Opera,[16] the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, and is a member of the International Council of the Tate Gallery of London.