Sammy Ofer

Sammy Ofer KBE

Born 22 February 1922
Galai, Romania
[1]
Died 3 June 2011 (aged 89)
Tel Aviv, Israel
Nationality Israeli
Children Eyal Ofer and Idan Ofer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sammy Ofer KBE (born Samuel Herskovich, 22 February 1922 3
June 2011)
[2]
was an Israeli businessman and philanthropist. He was one
of the wealthiest men in Israel, although most of his time he spent
abroad, and managed his businesses from Montecarlo in Monaco. A
member of the Ofer family, the annual Forbes magazine's list of The
World's Billionaires estimated in 2011 his fortune, together with his
brother Yuli's, to be $10.3 billion, ranked him in 2011 as the 79th in the
wealthiest people in the world, and the wealthiest man in Israel.
[3]
Contents [hide]
1 Life and career
2 Personal life
3 Philanthropy
4 Awards
5 References
Life and career [edit]
Ofer was born in 1922 in Romania. In 1924 Ofer's family immigrated to Mandatory Palestine. The family lived in Haifa.
After Ofer finished elementary school, he started working as delivery boy for a shipping company.
With the start of World War II he enlisted in the Royal Navy and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War he served in the
Israeli Sea Corps. After finishing his military service, he became a shipping agent with the Eastern Conglomerate, and
by 1950 had bought his first ship. Since then, he has expanded in the shipping business.
[4]
Ofer's assets, which are partly in his exclusive ownership and partly owned together with his brother Yuli, consist of
one of the largest private shipping companies in the world, with total value of almost 2 billion.
[5]
This includes the
companies ZIM, Royal Caribbean International, Israel Corporation, Israel Chemicals, Oil Refineries Ltd, Bank Mizrahi-
Tfahot, and Tower Semiconductor.
On 3 June 2011, Ofer died in his house in Tel Aviv at the age of 89.
[6]
Alon Uziel, a Tel Aviv resident living across of
the cemetery where Ofer was buried, was accused of dancing in his balcony during the wake to protest against the
state giving national property to the Ofer Brothers Group unlawfully.
[citation needed]
Personal life [edit]
Ofer has two sons, Eyal and Idan, who manage different branches of the family businesses.
On 10 November 2008 he was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in
recognition of his involvement with maritime heritage in the United Kingdom.
[7]
Philanthropy [edit]
In March 2008, Ofer donated 20 million to London's National Maritime Museum (NMM) at Greenwich, as part of a 35
million programme of expansion.
[5]
Ofer donated 3.3 million to help complete the restoration of the Cutty Sark by
2010.
[5]
In 2013, a 1.5 million donation from Eyal Ofer enabled the NMM to buy two paintings by George Stubbs
from 1722. The paintings depict a kangaroo and a dingo, and are the first depictions of Australian animals in Western
art.
[8]
In 2007, Sammy Ofer donated $25 million to the Rambam Health Care Campus, in Haifa, Israel. This contribution was
earmarked for two main purposes: $17 million for the 2000-bed fortified underground hospital and $7 million to
renovate the existing departments of Surgery, Urology, and ENT.
In 2013, Idan Ofer donated 25 million to London Business School in honor of his father, Sammy. The Old
Marylebone Town Hall will be renamed the Sammy Ofer Centre. The gift is the largest in the school's history.
Awards [edit]
On 10 June 2010, at the Rambam Summit, Prof. Rafi Beyar, Director of Rambam Health Care Campus, honored
Sammy Ofer with the Rambam Award 2010.
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References [edit]
1. ^ Magnatul israelian Sammy Ofer, nascut in Romania, a decedat la varsta de 89 de ani
2. ^ Isabel Kershner (4 June 2011). "Sammy Ofer, Magnate and Israeli Power Broker, Dies at 89" . The NewYork Times.
3. ^ "The World's Billionaires:#132 Sammy Ofer & family" . Forbes. 11 March 2000.
4. ^ "Memorial to Sammy Ofer" . Memorial website.
5. ^
a

b

c
Shipping billionaire makes 3.3m donation to restore fire-damaged Cutty Sark Daily Mail
6. ^ Maayana Miskin (3 June 2011). "Businessman Sammy Ofer Dies at 89" . Arutz Sheva. Retrieved 3 June 2011.
7. ^ Honorary Awards Foreign and Commonwealth Office
8. ^ "George Stubbs' kangaroo and dingo paintings to stay in UK" . BBC News Online. 6 November 2013. Retrieved 6
November 2013.
Categories: 1922 births 2011 deaths Businesspeople in shipping
Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Israeli billionaires Israeli chief executives
Israeli Jews Royal Navy personnel of World War II Israeli people of the 1948 ArabIsraeli War
Israeli philanthropists Israeli soldiers Jews in Mandatory Palestine Jewish military personnel
Jewish philanthropists Naturalized citizens of Israel People from Galai People from Tel Aviv
Romanian emigrants to Israel Romanian Jews
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