Moise Jacob Safra ( ar, موسى يَعْقُوب صفرا ; April 5, 1934 – June 15, 2014) was a Brazilian businessman and philanthropist. He co-founded

Banco Safra Banco Safra is a Brazilian financial services company headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. It is the seventh largest banking institution in Brazil, and the nineteenth largest in Latin America. It provides services in investment banking, priva ...

with his brothers

Edmond Safra Edmond J. Safra ( ar, ادموند يعقوب صفرا; 6 August 1932 – 3 December 1999) was a Lebanese-Brazilian banker who continued the family tradition of banking in Brazil and Switzerland. He was married to Lily Watkins from 1976 until ...

and

Joseph Safra Joseph Safra ( ar, يوسف صفرا‎; 1 September 1938 – 10 December 2020) was a Swiss-based Lebanese Brazilian banker and billionaire businessman, who ran the Brazilian banking and investment empire, Safra Group. Joseph Safra was the ch ...

Early life

Moise Safra was born on April 5, 1934 in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, Lebanon, Lebanon, into a family of Sephardic Jewish background originally from Lebanon and Aleppo, and was son of Jacob Safra.Brazilian Jewish philanthropist Moise Safra passes away

World Jewish Congress The World Jewish Congress (WJC) was founded in Geneva, Switzerland in August 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations. According to its mission statement, the World Jewish Congress' main purpose is to act as ...

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June 17, 2014 The family's history in banking originated with caravan trade between

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...

and Constantinople during the Ottoman Empire. The family relocated from Alepo to

after the First World War as Beirut was home to an already thriving Jewish community. Eventually, the Safras decided to move to Brazil in 1952. In 1955, Moise's 23-year-old brother, Edmond Safra, and their father, Jacob, started working in Brazil by financing letters of credit for trade in São Paulo.

Career

He established himself in Brazil where he acquired citizenship and founded

with his brothers Edmond and Joseph Safra. He was also a prominent Jewish philanthropist.

Death

He died on June 14, 2014, reportedly from heart failure, at the age of 80. He was buried at the in

Sao Paulo SAO or Sao may refer to: Places * Sao civilisation, in Middle Africa from 6th century BC to 16th century AD * Sao, a town in Boussé Department, Burkina Faso * Saco Transportation Center (station code SAO), a train station in Saco, Maine, U ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. He was survived by his wife Chella Cohen Safra and five children: Jacob Moise Safra, Azuri "Ezra" Moise Safra, Edmundo "Edmond" Moise Safra, Esther Safra Szajman (married to Claudio Szajman, son of ), and Olga Safra Levitin.

References

External links

Banco Safra Brazil
1934 births 2014 deaths 20th-century Sephardi Jews 21st-century Sephardi Jews Mizrahi Jews Brazilian people of Lebanese-Jewish descent Brazilian people of Syrian-Jewish descent Brazilian Sephardi Jews Brazilian bankers Brazilian billionaires Lebanese emigrants to Brazil Safra family Brazilian philanthropists Jewish philanthropists {{Brazil-business-bio-stub

Early life

Career

Death

See also

References

External links