Maurice Ostroff was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was educated at the University of Witwatersrand. He came to Israel with Machal to volunteer in the War of Independence in 1948. He became part of a small unit that constructed Israels first radar from assorted junked parts. In 1949 he returned to SA.

Mr. Ostroff held a masters degree in industrial engineering, a B.Sc. degree in mathematics and physics and a B.Sc. (Engineering) degree in electrical engineering. He was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Administration and Commerce of South Africa where he was the Group Administrative Director of Morlite Holdings Limited, an industrial conglomerate listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.  He is a former chairman of the South African Technion Society and of the South African Stainless Steel Sanitaryware Manufacturers Association as well as president of the Federation of Sanitaryware and Hardware Merchants Associations of South Africa, which body elected him as honorary life vice-president. 

On immigrating to Israel in 1980, Mr. Ostroff was appointed managing director of Orbit Medicenters Limited, the company which initiated and brought to fruition, the Herzliya Medical Center.  He was also a member of the team which motivated and created Beth Protea and continues to serve as a member of the "chevra".
He was a founder member of the international Coalition of Hasbara Volunteers, better known by its acronym CoHaV, (star in Hebrew), a world-wide umbrella organization of volunteers active in combating anti-Israel media and political bias and in promoting the positive side of Israel.  He was a past chairman of the Israel South Africa Chamber of Commerce and an honorary officer of the Chamber. He was a former member of the Board of Governors of the Technion, Israel Institute of Technology.
His articles, commenting on current affairs, were published in Israel and abroad. His website www.2nd-thoughts.org was widely known as a source of reliable dispassionate information about the Arab-Israel conflict. It contains a substantial section on the Goldstone mission including his open correspondence with judge Goldstone. See www.2nd-thoughts.org/id220.html

Maurice Ostroff passed away on November 9, 2015