Fridman (Friedmann) Yakov (Jakow) Faivishevich (9 July 1946, Riga) — engineer.

Yakov Fridman was born into the family of party officials Faivish Yakovlevich Fridman (1908, Grīva, Latvia) and Gesya Berkovna Fridman (née Ginzburg) (1911, Dvinsk, today Daugavpils). He completed eight grades of Secondary School No. 23 in Riga (1961), after which he worked as a locksmith-electrician at the Riga Wagon Factory (RVZ) from 1961 to 1963, while continuing his education. In 1963 he graduated from the Riga Evening School for Working Youth No. 11.

From 1963 to 1967 he studied at and graduated from the Riga Polytechnic Institute (RPI). In 1968 he worked as an adjuster of contact welding machines at RVZ and was drafted into the Soviet Army (Lutsk, Volyn region), where he served as a radio technician in military unit No. 34500 (1968–1969).

After returning to Riga, he worked as an installation engineer in a commissioning group and as a design engineer at the “Compressor” plant (1969–1970). From 1970 to 1973 he pursued postgraduate studies at RPI. From 1973 to 1979 he worked as an assistant and later senior lecturer at the Department of Machine Parts and Theory of Mechanisms and Machines of the Mechanical Engineering Faculty of RPI.

In 1979 Yakov Fridman received permission to emigrate to Israel, where his uncle, David Izrailevich Epstein (born 1906, Poland), resided.

He was married to Ludmila Markovna Fridman (née Polskaya) (born 1954, Krivoy Rog, Dnipropetrovsk region). Their son is Daniyel YakovlevichFridman (born 1975, Riga).

Family:

Faivish Yakovlevich Fridman (1908) — father
Gesya Berkovna Fridman (née Ginzburg) (1911) — mother
Valdi Faivishevich Fridman (1940, Dvinsk) — brother
Ludmila Markovna Fridman (née Polskaya) (1954) — wife
Daniyel Yakovlevich Fridman (1975, Riga) — son
David Izrailevich Epstein (1906) — uncle