Born: Siegfried Stark
Vienna, Austria
March 20, 1911
Died:
November 27, 2008
Fred Stark grew up in Vienna, Austria in a Jewish neighborhood where his grandfather founded a small synagogue. After graduating high school around 1920, Fred studied the diamond trade and began working for a jewelry manufacturer. He worked in London and Paris before moving to Brussels, Belgium in 1938—shortly before the Anschluss with Nazi Germany that March. Stark was able to secure safe passage to Belgium for more than 20 members of his extended family, who were then able to move to Australia, Argentina and Brazil. His mother and brother Louis were able to leave Austria and join him in Belgium. However, when the German army attacked Brussels in May 1940, Louis was arrested and deported to the Gurs concentration camp in France. Fred’s father and brother Karl in Austria were also deported to concentration camps. In 1941 Stark married Lily Lenz, a Jewish refugee from Austria. Using counterfeit documents, the couple fled for Cuba. They stayed there until 1960 when Fidel Castro came to power. Fred then managed the Harry Winston store in Paris for 25 years before coming to Houston in 1985.