Si Frumkin (born Simas Frumkinas)[1] (November 5, 1930 – May 15, 2009)[2] was a Lithuanian-born Jew who survived imprisonment at the Dachau Nazi concentration camp, and emigrated to the United States, where he became a prominent textile manufacturer and activist involved in issues relating to Soviet Jewry.
Si Frumkin was born on November 5, 1930, in Kaunas, Lithuania, to Mykolas and Zila (née Waisapel) Frumkinas.
[1][3][4] After the war, Frumkin studied in Switzerland and England before briefly immigrating to Venezuela, where he was reunited with his mother, who had been deported to Poland.
[1][2] Shortly after graduation, he moved to Los Angeles and took over Universal Drapery Fabrics, a downtown textile company.
When Frumkin became aware of the plight of Soviet Jews in the late 1960s, he at first tried, without success, to mobilize the local Jewish Federation Council to take action on the issue.