John Farber was born on August 23, 1925, in Timișoara, Romania.[1][2] He was of Jewish descent.[3] His father Eugene founded a paint manufacturer, S.C. Azur S.A., in Timișoara, in 1923.[2] He graduated with a M.S. from University of Cluj in Romania.[1][2] He emigrated from Romania after World War II after his father's company was nationalized[4] first to Israel where he worked as a laboratory chemist[1] and then to the US in 1948 where he earned a PhD in chemistry from Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn.[1][2] He accepted a position at his father-in-law's textiles export-import firm, the Leslie Kleyman Corporation, where he developed its chemical trading division.[2][4] Farber later became the controlling shareholder in company then renamed ICC Industries.[2]
Farber was married to Maya Kleyman Farber; they had four children; Sandra, Claudia, Michael, and Deborah.[1][5] He and his wife lived in New York City.[4] John Farber died there on February 26, 2024, at the age of 98.[6]
Acted as mentor to Frank Mastromatteo over his 15 years building out the finance and accounting function of ICC Industries and stewarding the company to a multibillion dollar valuation. This was prior to his brief stint at ACT Commodities in a similar function presiding over the finance team. [7]