Lappin takes hit for workers

Robert I. Lappin made up for the lost savings of the 60 employees of his company, Salem-based Shetland Properties Inc., and of his private charity, the Robert I. Lappin Charitable Foundation, whose 401(k) plans were managed by Madoff.

Lappin himself lost some of his personal fortune to Madoff, and his foundation was forced to briefly close last December after $8 million of its money vanished in what investigators call the largest Ponzi scheme in history.

“I wanted to do the right thing,’’ Lappin said. “And, I feel, I’ve done the right thing and that to me is my reward.’’

Lappin’s generosity is reminiscent of Aaron M. Feuerstein, the businessman who was celebrated for keeping workers of his Malden Mills, maker of Polartec, employed after a spectacular fire destroyed several of the company’s buildings in Lawrence in 1995.

Alan Pierce, a Salem attorney whose law practice is located in a Shetland property, praised Lappin, but said his generosity should not come as a surprise.

“Restoring his employee benefits speaks to the type of guy he is,’’ said Pierce, who also serves as president of the Jewish Historical Society of the North Shore. “He’s always been the most philanthropic and generous of people in the area of charities. He’s done it without fanfare and he’s done it generously, even though he’s suffered some significant setbacks with the Madoff scandal.’’

Lappin has also revived his charity, which supports Jewish education and culture programs on the North Shore. On Sunday, the foundation helped send 82 Jewish teens to Israel after raising $450,000 in private donations for the Youth to Israel travel program.

Many Jewish philanthropies and social organizations were particularly hard hit by Madoff, because he had used social networks to get them or their major donors to become clients. They include Hadassah, which lost $90 million, and Yeshiva University, $110 million. The foundation of Boston philanthropist Carl Shapiro lost as much as half its money, $145 million, to Madoff.

But now, with Madoff in a North Carolina prison serving a 150-year sentence, many of the affected charities are, like Lappin’s, bouncing back.

Mark Charendoff, president of The Jewish Funders Network, said an audit of his organization’s 800 members found many donors trying to maintain giving levels in 2009.

“Their intent was to buckle down and provide extra assistance for those non-for-profits that they care most deeply about,’’ he said.

Lappin has owned Shetland Properties Inc. for 51 years. Though he declined to specify his losses to Madoff, Lappin said his net worth is less than $10 million, a 10th of what it was before the scandal.

Sean Sposito can be reached at ssposito@globe.com.

Correction: Because of an editing error, this story had an incorrect first name for the North Shore businessman who restored the retirement savings of his employees who were victims of Bernard Madoff. He is Robert I. Lappin.