{{Short description|Israeli businessman (1922–2011)}} {{for|the stadium|Sammy Ofer Stadium}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox person | image = Sammy Ofer.JpEg | image_size = 250px | name = Sammy Ofer | caption = | native_name = סמי עופר | birth_name = Shmuel Herskovich | birth_date = {{birth date|1922|02|22|df=y}} | birth_place = Galați, Romania<ref>[http://economie.hotnews.ro/stiri-companii-8762781-magnatul-israelian-sammy-ofer-nascut-romania-decedat-varsta-89-ani.htm?cfnl= Magnatul israelian Sammy Ofer, nascut in Romania, a decedat la varsta de 89 de ani]</ref> | death_date = {{Death date and age|2011|06|03|1922|02|22|df=y}} | death_place = Tel Aviv, Israel | native_name_lang = he | other_names = | known_for = | occupation = | spouse = Aviva Ofer | children = Eyal Ofer, Idan Ofer | relatives = Yuli Ofer (brother) }} '''Shmuel "Sammy" Ofer''' ({{langx|he|שמואל "סמי" עופר}}; born '''Shmuel Hershkovich'''; 22 February 1922 – 3 June 2011)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/world/middleeast/05ofer.html?ref=deathsobituaries|title=Sammy Ofer, Magnate and Israeli Power Broker, Dies at 89|author=Isabel Kershner|author-link=Isabel Kershner|date=4 June 2011|work=The New York Times}}</ref> was an Israeli shipping magnate and one of the richest men in the country.
==Early life== Shmuel Hershkovich was born in 1922 in Galați, Romania, to a Jewish family.<ref name="ftjohnreedpopulism">John Reed, [https://www.ft.com/content/36ce978e-a294-11e2-9b70-00144feabdc0 Idan Ofer: fleeing Israel's new populism], ''The Financial Times'', 12 April 2013</ref> In 1924, his family immigrated to the then British Mandate of Palestine. The family resided in the port city of Haifa. His father was a merchant who supplied ships, and after finishing elementary school Ofer worked in the family business. He also worked as a messenger boy for a shipping agency in the city and joined the Haganah. During World War II, Ofer enlisted in the Royal Navy and served on a minesweeper.<ref name="ftjohnreedpopulism"/><ref>[https://jweekly.com/2011/06/10/controversial-israeli-billionaire-dies-at-89/ Controversial Israeli billionaire dies at 89]</ref> During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, he served in the Israeli Navy.
==Career== After finishing his military service, he became a shipping agent with the Eastern Conglomerate, and by 1950 had bought his first ship. He expanded in the shipping business.<ref>{{cite web|title=Memorial to Sammy Ofer|url=http://www.sammy-ofer.com|work=Memorial website}}</ref>
Ofer's assets were partly in his exclusive ownership and partly owned together with his brother Yuli, consisting of one of the largest private shipping companies in the world, with a value of $3.6 billion in 2011.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/companies/article/sammy-ofer-q8xq6kspd6b |title=Sammy Ofer Israeli businessman and philanthropist who was seldom far from controversy|date=7 November 2011|work=The Times|access-date=11 November 2020}}</ref> This includes the companies ZIM, Royal Caribbean International, Israel Corporation, Israel Chemicals, Oil Refineries Ltd, Bank Mizrahi-Tfahot, and Tower Semiconductor.
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.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/10/billionaires-2009-richest-people_Sammy-Ofer-family_QK08.html|title=The World's Billionaires:#132 Sammy Ofer & family|date=11 March 2000|work=Forbes}}</ref>
==Philanthropy== 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.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7316212.stm |title=Tycoon's £20m donation to museum |date=27 March 2008|work=BBC News Online|accessdate=11 November 2020}}</ref> Ofer donated £3.3 million to help complete the restoration of the Cutty Sark by 2010.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/shipping-magnate-saves-the-cutty-sark-with-33m-gift-6886377.html|title=Shipping magnate saves the Cutty Sark with £3.3m gift |date=24 June 2008|work=Evening Standard|accessdate=11 November 2020}}</ref>
In 2013, a £1.5 million donation from Eyal Ofer enabled the NMM to buy two paintings by George Stubbs from 1772. The paintings depict a kangaroo and a dingo, and are the first depictions of Australian animals in Western art.<ref name=BBCNov13>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24826579|title=George Stubbs' kangaroo and dingo paintings to stay in UK|date=6 November 2013|work=BBC News Online|accessdate=6 November 2013}}</ref>
In 2007, Ofer donated $25 million to the Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, Israel, which included $17 million<ref>[https://www.jpost.com/health-and-sci-tech/health/tats-and-tales 'Tats' and tales] The Jerusalem Post; Accessed 22 July 2024.</ref> for its 2000-bed Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital.<ref>[https://www.timesofisrael.com/amid-northern-jitters-haifas-fortified-underground-hospital-readies-for-war/ Amid northern jitters, Haifa's fortified underground hospital readies for war] Times of Israel; Accessed 22 July 2024.</ref>
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.<ref>[http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-the-fco/what-we-do/honours/honorary-awards Honorary Awards] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090105100136/http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-the-fco/what-we-do/honours/honorary-awards |date=5 January 2009 }} Foreign and Commonwealth Office</ref>
==Personal life== He was married to Aviva Ofer. They had two sons: Idan Ofer and Eyal Ofer. They mainly resided in Monte Carlo, Monaco.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}
==Death== On 3 June 2011, Ofer died in his house in Tel Aviv, Israel, at the age of 89.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/144728 |title= Businessman Sammy Ofer Dies at 89|author=Maayana Miskin |publisher=Arutz Sheva|date=3 June 2011|accessdate=3 June 2011}}</ref>
==Legacy== In 2013, Idan Ofer donated £25 million to London Business School in honor of his father, Sammy.<ref name="ftdella">Della Bradshaw, Adam Palin, [https://www.ft.com/content/cdae22a6-21dc-11e3-9b55-00144feab7de Idan Ofer gives £25m to London Business School], ''The Financial Times'', 26 September 2013</ref> A new educational facility at Marylebone Town Hall was established as the Sammy Ofer Centre. The gift was the largest in the school's history.<ref name="ftdella"/> There is also a well-known Israeli soccer stadium named after him that he also partially funded, Sammy Ofer Stadium in the city Haifa, Israel.
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ofer, Sammy}} Category:1922 births Category:2011 deaths Category:Israeli businesspeople in shipping Category:Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Israeli billionaires Category:Israeli chief executives Category:Israeli Ashkenazi Jews Category:Royal Navy personnel of World War II Category:Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Category:Ashkenazi Jews in Mandatory Palestine Category:Jewish Israeli military personnel Category:Naturalized citizens of Israel Category:People from Galați Category:Businesspeople from Tel Aviv Category:Romanian emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Sammy Category:Burials at Trumpeldor Cemetery Category:20th-century Israeli philanthropists Category:Romanian Ashkenazi Jews Category:Israeli people of Romanian-Jewish descent Category:Mandatory Palestine military personnel of World War II Category:Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Category:Israeli Navy personnel