Sammy Ofer
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| Sammy Ofer | |
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| Born | February 22, 1922  Romania |
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| Nationality |  Israeli |
| Occupation | businessman and shipping tycoon |
| Children | Idan Ofer and Eyal Ofer |
Sammy Ofer (b. February 22, 1922 in Romania), a member of the Ofer family, is a businessman, shipping tycoon and one of the wealthiest people in Israel, although most of his time he spends abroad, and manages his businesses from Monte Carlo in Monaco. The annual Forbes magazine's list of The World's Billionaires estimated in 2007 that Sammy Ofer's fortune together with his brother Yuli's fortune is estimated at 3.9 billion dollars, ranking him the 226nd in wealthiest people in the world.[1]
In 1924 Sammy immigrated to Israel together with his parents and his family lived in Haifa, There his younger brother Jehuda (Juli) Ofer was born. After he finished elementary school he started working as delivery boy for a shipping company in Haifa.
With the start of the World War II he enlisted to the British Royal Navy and during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War he served in the Israeli Sea Corps. After he finished his army service he became a shipping agent with the eastern conglomerate and by the year 1950 he had bought his first ship. Since then, he has expanded in the shipping business.
Ofer's assets, which are partly in his exclusive ownership and partly owned together with his brother Juli, consist of one of the largest private shipping companies in the world, which includes the company ZIM, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Real estates, ownership in the company Israel Corp., Israel Chemicals, Oil Refineries Ltd (BAZAN) in Haifa, Mizrahi-Tefahot Bank Ltd., Tower Semiconductor Ltd. and more. Sammy Ofer also possesses an art collection which is from the most expensive in the world. The factories in the ownership of the Ofer brothers are responsible for about 60% of the industrial air pollution in Israel.[2]
Ofer is reputed as one of the biggest 10 art collectors in the world. For example, in 2006 he purchased a Vincent van Gogh painting in exchange for 40.3 million dollars. Additionally he also possesses an honorable collection of paintings by Marc Chagall. On 27 March 2008, it was announced that he is donating £20 million to London's National Maritime Museum at Greenwich, as part of a £35 million programme of expansion – this is believed to be the largest single donation ever to a British cultural institution.
Ofer has two sons, Eyal and Idan, who manage different branches of the family businesses.
