About the Donor

In 1987,  Dr. Wolf Cegla - a seminal figure in Israeli philanthropy - created the endowment that has funded the establishment of the Cegla Center for Interdisciplinary Research at TAU's Buchmann Faculty of Law. 

Raised in Fulda, Germany, Dr. Wolf Cegla completed high school in Frankfurt, and obtained his doctorate in international law in Berlin. With Hitler's rise to power in 1936, Dr. Cegla was forced to abandon his promising academic career at the famed Max Planck Institute, and flee his country of birth to Eretz Israel.

Upon making Aliyah in 1939 with his wife, Elga, and young son, Dr. Cegla attempted to establish an institute for international law. However, as this was not considered a national priority, he instead turned to industry and commerce, eventually establishing a highly successful textile business.

During this time, Dr. Cegla maintained close personal ties with the Israeli legal elite of the time, including Joel Zussman, who was to become the fourth President of the Israeli Supreme Court, and Zeev Zeltner, a founder of TAU's law school and former President of the District Court of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, in whose honor Dr. Cegla later dedicated a room at TAU Law. In quick succession he also dedicated the Dr. Jur. Wolf and Elga Cegla Wing and the Elga Cegla Hall of the Faculty Council in memory of his late wife.

In 1993, Dr. Cegla was recognized for the important role he played in the development of the law faculty and was appointed a member of TAU's Board of Governors. Upon his death, his son Michael and daughter-in-law Amalia reaffirmed the family's commitment to building up the law faculty by upgrading the Cegla Institute into an international Center for Interdisciplinary Research of the Law and expanding the clinical activities under the newly established Elga Cegla Clinical Education Program.