Trade Mourns Death of Leo Schachter

RAPAPORT... Leo Schachter, whose famed international diamond company has borne his name for almost 70 years, has died. Schachter launched Beck and Schachter Company on New York's47th Street in 1952, having learned the trade from his father, Max. The firmbecame a De Beers sightholder in 1966, and expanded beyond the US to Israel,Africa and the Far East. It remained a family business, with many of Schachter's fivedaughters and five sons-in-law becoming involved. The company movedits main sales and distributions to Tel Aviv in 1982, and in 1984 opened acutting factory in Botswana. In 2016, the firm - now simply called LeoSchachter - joined Alrosa's contract-sales program. "[Schachter] looked you straight in the eye, didn't say thatmuch, but quietly knew everything," said Martin Rapaport, Chairman of theRapaport Group. "He was straight and his advice, soft-spoken, was honest andgood. He was generous with his wisdom. Someone you could look up to. I likedhim and he liked me. Leo's passingrepresents the end of a generation of great diamantaires." Schachter was an "icon of the diamond industry"and a longtime member of the Diamond Manufacturers & Importers of America(DMIA), added Ronnie VanderLinden, the DMIA's president, in a statement. Image: Leo Schachter. (Leo Schachter)