Etingen Lazar (Eliezer) (1 Shvat 1874, Veliuona — ?) — engineer, merchant, entrepreneur, civic figure. Mother — daughter of the very famous rabbi Shmaya Ezrakhi;
father, Reb Noah Etingen, a great Torah scholar, was a merchant and major civic figure who, in the time of Minister V.K. Pleve, was sent by the St Petersburg community to the disposal of Baron Horace Ginzburg as a consultant on civic affairs, and together with him and others participated in the delegation to Pleve.
Simultaneously with his secular education, E. received a Jewish upbringing. In 1891, in Veliuona, was a representative of “Shovevei Zion.” Studied philosophy and chemistry in Bern and Zurich. In 1895, together with Khaim Zhitlovsky and others, founded in Bern the first Jewish national-socialist society based on “Shovevei Zion.” Lived in Riga from 1898. Founded the Zionist society “Nes Tsiona.” For 30 years, served on the committee of the Jewish educational society in Ape. Was co-founder and longtime chairman of the board of the first Jewish “Kleinbank.” In 1910, joined the committee for the publication in Riga of “Die idishe shtime” with Baal-Makhshoves as editor. At the time of the expulsion from Courland, was chairman of the refugee relief commission. Was the first chairman of the board of the Jewish theatre and sports society “Hakoah.” After the First World War, returned to Riga and became chairman of the board of “Merkaz Histadrut Hatsionit” in Latvia, chairman of the board of the Jewish People's University in Riga and vice-president of the Latvian Economic Society. At the 18th Zionist Congress in Prague, was elected to the executive committee and honorary chairman of the Zionist youth organisation “Herzliya.” From 1900, was engaged in petroleum products and was general director of the “Shell” company in the Baltic countries.