# Ofira Navon

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{{Short description|1978–1983 First Lady of Israel (1936–1993)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Ofira Navon<br />אופירה נבון
| office              = [First Lady of Israel](/source/First_Lady_of_Israel)
| president           = [Yitzhak Navon](/source/Yitzhak_Navon)
| successor           = [Aura Herzog](/source/Aura_Herzog)
| predecessor         = [Nina Katzir](/source/Nina_Katzir)
| birth_date          = 1 January 1936
| death_date          = 22 August 1993 (aged 57)
| birth_place         = [Tel Aviv](/source/Tel_Aviv), [Mandatory Palestine](/source/Mandatory_Palestine)
| death_place         = [Jerusalem](/source/Jerusalem)
| image               = Flickr - Government Press Office (GPO) - Mrs. Ophira navon.jpg
| term_start          = 29 May 1978
| term_end            = 5 May 1983
}}

'''Ofira Resnikov Navon''' ({{langx|he|אופירה נבון}}; January 1, 1936 – August 22, 1993) was the wife of [Yitzhak Navon](/source/Yitzhak_Navon), the fifth [President of Israel](/source/President_of_Israel).

==Biography==
Ofira Navon was born in [Tel Aviv](/source/Tel_Aviv) to Batya (née Spitkovski) and Eliezer Reznikov-Erez, both originally from Russia. Her father died when she was 8. She earned an MA in education and psychology from the [University of Georgia](/source/University_of_Georgia), where she was also a member of the [Delta Phi Epsilon](/source/Delta_Phi_Epsilon_(social)) sorority, and had professional certification in rehabilitation psychology from [Columbia University](/source/Columbia_University). She and Yitzhak Navon had two children, Naama and Erez.<ref name=NYT>{{Citation
 | last =
 | first =
 | author-link =
 | date =August 23, 1993
 | title =Ofira Navon Is Dead; Israeli, 57, Backed Rights of Children
 | periodical = New York Times
 | url =https://www.nytimes.com/1993/08/23/obituaries/ofira-davon-is-dead-israeli-57-backed-rights-of-children.html
 | archiveurl =
 | archivedate =
 | accessdate = March 15, 2010
}}</ref>

==As First Lady==
thumb|250px|Ofira Navon park, Jerusalem
During her husband's presidency, from 1978 to 1983,  Navon raised the profile of the president's wife. As [First Lady](/source/First_Lady), Navon established the President's Council for the Welfare of the Child. She worked with [Jehan Sadat](/source/Jehan_Sadat), wife of the Egyptian president, on rehabilitation projects for soldiers wounded in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Navon also pushed for an international treaty to protect children caught in war zones.<ref name=NYT/>

Navon was the first Israeli-born presidential wife. With her [Ashkenazi](/source/Ashkenazi) upbringing, her marriage to a [Sephardi](/source/Sephardi) Jew was unusual at the time. The fact that they were parents of small children was another first for the presidency in Israel.<ref name=NYT/>

==Illness and death==
In 1979, Navon was diagnosed with [breast cancer](/source/breast_cancer) and rejected a mastectomy, opting for chemotherapy and a lumpectomy. Later she argued for the right of patients to determine their own treatment. In August 1993, Navon died of leukemia at [Hadassah Medical Center](/source/Hadassah_Medical_Center) in Jerusalem at the age of 57.<ref name=NYT/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Navon, Ofira}}
Category:1936 births
Category:1993 deaths
Category:Deaths from leukemia in Israel
Category:Israeli Ashkenazi Jews
Category:Israeli people of Russian-Jewish descent
Category:Spouses of presidents of Israel
Category:People from Tel Aviv
Category:Burials at Mount Herzl
Category:20th-century Israeli women scientists
Category:20th-century psychologists

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Ofira Navon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofira_Navon) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofira_Navon?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.