Anita Zucker is the wealthiest self-made guest we’ve interviewed on the podcast to date. She is South Carolina’s only billionaire and one of the most influential donors in the south. She funds education, health programs, Jewish causes and keeps active politically as a member of the Republican Party.
Anita launched InterTech Investments with her husband Jerry Zucker in 1982 (which is also the year that the Moss Professors “launched” Dave Moss). They ran the business together throughout the 80s and 90s until Jerry passed away from a brain tumor in 2008 and Anita has run the company herself. At one point, InterTech owned the venerable Hudson’s Bay Company making Anita the only female CEO in the 350+ year history of that company.
Anita opened her doors to us for a long, in depth and wide ranging interview. We discussed her childhood in northern Florida being raised Jewish as the daughter of Holocaust survivors and we also talked about her own children and grandchildren (we have previously interviewed Anita’s daughter Andrea as part of last year’s Giving Stories project). Those experiences, as well as losing her husband to cancer, have clearly made an impact on Anita’s philanthropy as her support is most prolific when it comes to medical research, Jewish studies programs, and education in the Charleston area. This was a wonderful interview and we are truly grateful to Anita for opening her doors to us. If you’ve ever wanted to listen to a Southern Jewish Billionaire talk about philanthropy for over an hour then you are truly in luck.
Enjoy,
