Arison family

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The Arison family is an Israeli-American business family.

Moshe and Sarah Arison immigrated to Turkish-ruled Palestine from Romania in 1882, and were among the founders of the town of Zikhron Ya'aqov. Their eldest son, Meir, is the father of Ted Arison.

The most notable members are:

  • Ted Arison (1924-1999), Israeli businessman, was born in Tel Aviv in 1924, during the British Mandate. He served in the Israel Defense Forces and participated in Israeli War of Independence. After his army service he moved to the United States and integrated in the business world. In a relatively short period of time, he became wealthy from his business in the field of cruise ships, and became over time one of the richest Jews in the world. As he got on in years, he returned to Israel. He contributed large sums of money to the state of Israel to build hospitals and to establish charity organizations. In 1997 he acquired from the state of Israel (as part of a government privatization plan) most of the controlling shares in Bank Hapoalim, the biggest bank in Israel.
  • Micky Arison, born in 1949, Ted Arrison's son, inherited the majority of the assets and fortune of his father. According a joint decision, he remained in the United States to manage the business interests of the family, in which he is the Chief Executive Officer of the Carnival Cruise Lines Corporation, the cruise line company is one of the biggest in the world. His sister Shari remained in Israel to manage the business interests of the family in Israel.
  • Shari Arison, born in 1957 in New York, Ted Arison's daughter, immigrated to Israel with her father and after his death inherited part of his fortune (mainly her father's investments in Israel, among them, his investment in Bank Hapoalim). She left Israel for a brief period following her father's death, and moved to Miami. She blamed news reporter Shelly Yachimovich for slandering her in saying Shari was motivated by greed in her move out of Israel. In 2004 she and her latest husband Ofer Glazer returned to Israel. She is Israel's richest citizen.

[edit] Business holdings and organizations

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