Max Stern (businessman)  Max Stern (1898–1982) was an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist who established and built the Hartz Mountain Corporation. He was born to a Jewish family in Fulda, Hesse, Germany, to parents Emanuel and Caroline Stern. He emigrated to the United States in 1926 fleeing the religious prejudice that he experienced in Germany. Stern founded the Hartz Mountain Corporation, a large pet products manufacturer and real estate development company. Stern was also the leader of Yeshiva University for 41 years. Stern was twice-married:  As a leading Jewish philanthropist, he helped many charitable organizations both in the U.S. and Israel. Stern founded the Stern College for Women — the undergraduate women's college of arts and sciences of Yeshiva University, located in New York City, New York, which is associated with Modern Orthodox Judaism — with a major grant, in honor of his late parents Emanuel and Caroline Stern. The Max Stern Academic College of Emek Yezreel, located in Jezreel Valley, Israel, is named after him. Stern was a communal lay leader. He died in 1982, age 83 or 84, leaving his son, Leonard N. Stern, to carry on the family business. He is interred in the Sharon Gardens Division of Kensico Cemetery.