Sammy Ofer
| Sammy Ofer KBE | |
|---|---|
| Born |
22 February 1922 Galați, Romania |
| Died | 3 June 2011 (aged 89) Tel Aviv, Israel |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Spouse(s) | Aviva Ofer |
| Children | Eyal Ofer, Idan Ofer |
Sammy Ofer (born Shmuel Herskovich; 22 February 1922 – 3 June 2011) was an Israeli shipping magnate and philanthropist. He was one of the wealthiest men in Israel.
He was born in 1922 in Galați, Romania. In 1924, Ofer's family immigrated to Mandatory Palestine. The family lived in Haifa. With the start of World War II, he enlisted in the Royal Navy. 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. He expanded in the shipping business.
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. 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.
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. Ofer donated £3.3 million to help complete the restoration of the Cutty Sark by 2010. 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.
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