Elan Steinberg (born June 2, 1952, in Rishon LeZion, Israel, to Polish Jewish Holocaust survivors Max and Rose Steinberg, who had hidden in a bunker during World War II before emigrating to Israel) moved to the United States with his family at age two, settling in New York, where he graduated from Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan. He became a prominent figure in Jewish advocacy, serving as former Executive Director of the World Jewish Congress and leading tenacious international negotiations to secure over $1 billion in restitution from Swiss banks for Nazi victims and their heirs, highlighting his commitment to Holocaust justice. He died on April 6, 2012, at age 59.