David Tuviyahu

Who was David Tuviyahu?

David Tuviyahu was the first mayor of the Israeli city of Beersheba.

Appointed in 1950 when Beersheba was small dusty town in the Negev, Tuviyahu oversaw the development of the city, including the connection to the electricity grid, the national road network and mass housing building for the many new immigrants, particularly those from North Africa, who were living in nearby tent cities. He also oversaw the construction of the Soroka Medical Center and helped establish the Negev University, later renamed in honor of David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first Prime Minister and a proponent of developing the Negev desert.

He was succeeded in 1961 by Ze'ev Zrizi. Today one of the city's main streets is named in his honour.