Ahmad Adaya
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Ahmed Adaya (1927-2006) was an American Muslim real estate tycoon and philanthropist who was the founding partner of prominent California real estate company IDS Real Estate Group, He was known for establishing the New Horizon School for Muslim religious education in southern California. Adaya was born in Bantva Kathiawar and shifted to Pakistan after partition in 1947. He graduated from Karachi University in 1950 and went into the textile business. On a trip to California in the 1970s, he had a heart attack and remained in the US and began buying properties in the Los Angeles area. He also established the Meridian Group, a property management company. Adaya owned the Shangri-La Hotel in Santa Monica, along with several other industrial properties. He donated land for one of the four campuses of the New Horizon School in 1984. He also sponsored Islamic art exhibitions in Los Angeles County Museum of Art and funded a publication last year on Islamic artefacts.