Shmuel Harlap, one of Israel's leading businessmen and philanthropists, has passed away

Dr. Shmuel Harlap, owner of the Colmobil automotive group, passed away this morning (Wednesday) at the age of 82.

Colmobil Group is the largest and oldest vehicle and truck importer in Israel. Dr. Harlap stood for decades at the head of Colmobil as the group's chairman and one of its owners. Harlap, who held a PhD in philosophy from Harvard University, turned the family company, founded in the early 1960s, into the largest automotive group in Israel, with a share of about 25% of total sales in the past year and an annual turnover estimated at over 10 billion shekels.

For decades, the company has imported Mercedes-Benz light and heavy vehicles to Israel, as well as Hyundai Group brands, and in recent years, Chinese brands including Jaecoo and Omoda from the Chery Group, which have become market leaders in the last two years.

Harlap is also known as one of the first and most prominent investors in the company Mobileye. In addition, Harlap was a prominent philanthropist. In August 2025, he and his wife Anat donated about 180 million dollars (about 600 million shekels) for the construction of the "Tower of Hope" at Beilinson Hospital, the largest donation in the history of the public health system in Israel.

Beyond import and distribution, Colmobil Group operates in the fields of vehicle financing and insurance services, trade-in, and has expanded its activities to the import and marketing of Chery Group vehicles in Austria and to activities in the field of solar energy and battery recycling.

Donations to Beilinson and the Weizmann Institute

In recent years, following the war and the economic and social events in Israel, Harlap called for healing the rifts in Israeli society and achieving a sustainable peace agreement. In a joint interview with his wife, Dr. Anat Harlap, given to Globes about a year ago, the couple spoke about their philanthropic enterprise and the donation they made at the end of August 2025 to Beilinson Hospital, which came about two months after another large donation of theirs to the Weizmann Institute for the restoration of the ruins left behind by an Iranian missile.

Harlap described how he found himself in the world of investments, and in Colmobil in particular:

"I was in the academic world for many years, until I reached the conclusion that my good ideas were not new, and my new ideas were not good enough. Therefore, our paths parted, mine and the academy's. We had a family business that was fading, so I entered it in the early 80s. Until then, I did not know how to read a financial report. I understood that it starts with a line of income at the top, at the bottom there must remain a profit, and everything in between must be reduced. That is what I did. It is much simpler than philosophy. Once you understand the principle, it is the ABCs of business."

"The business was then in Haifa and I moved it to Tel Aviv. There was then only one car agency, Mercedes, which my father brought, so I added car agencies from the Far East, and that is how the business grew, and I invested a lot of time and resources and efforts in its development, and I succeeded. Later I saw that I understood business a bit better, so we also invested in other businesses," Harlap said.

Harlap is survived by his wife, two children, and seven grandchildren.