Eric and Illeana Benhamou are longtime supporters of South Peninsula Hebrew Day School, as well as many other institutions in both Israel and the Bay Area. Their sons, Ori and Emmanuel, are former SPHDS students. The Benhamous are proud of the strong academic, well-balanced education that
their sons received. Ori and Emmanuel are active in Jewish youth groups.
Illeana studied in Grenoble, France and in Jerusalem prior to receiving a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Paris. While Eric studied at
Stanford, Illeana worked at Telegen where she did public relations and foreign language translation for French televisions. She currently enjoys writing poetry.

At age thirteen, Eric started his first business in recycling moped parts. he later became fascinated by the early computers as a student. His time at
Stanford University where he studied engineering was an exciting time with the pioneering of microprocessors and local computer networks.

In 1981 he used his entrepreneurial skills to co-found Bridge Communications, where merged with 3Com in 1987.
Eric was appointed CEO of 3Com in 1990. The company has continued to successfully develop computer networks and is a leader in this technology.

Eric continues to support cooperative high technology ventures between Israel and Silicon Valley. he views it as paramount that Israel become a
technology leader among its neighboring countries. In today's information revolution, Eric feels that Jews must master the tools needed to access
knowledge as well as communicate worldwide. he also feels that Jewish teachers must be ready for the challenge of instructing these new skills.
It is his vision that SPHDS become a center for Jewish life on the Peninsula as a source of knowledge as well as a hub of community activity.