Born in Baltimore, Maryland William Weintraub has become one of Israel's best known painters of Israeli people. Mr. Weintraub is a graduate of the Maryland Institute of Art. He studied under renowned teacher Jacques Maroger.

As a volunteer in the US Merchant Marines in 1944, Weintraub found his subjects in his trips to Europe and the Mediterranean. After a brief internment in Cyprus, Weintraub arrived in Palestine to participate in the War of Liberation.

In 1947, he joined the crew of the old SS Hatikva, which was being used by the Palestinian underground to transport Jewish refugees from Europe. On his first voyage, the slow ship was intercepted by British destroyers and all those aboard were ...