Nessim David Gaon ( ar, نسيم جاعون, ; 22 February 1922 – 10 May 2022) was a

Sudan Sudan ( or ; ar, السودان, as-Sūdān, officially the Republic of the Sudan ( ar, جمهورية السودان, link=no, Jumhūriyyat as-Sūdān), is a country in Northeast Africa. It shares borders with the Central African Republic t ...

-born Swiss financier who created the Noga SA. Outside the business world, he was very prominent in Jewish affairs, acting as president of the

World Sephardi Federation In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

since 1971. He was also a vice president of the

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 ...

and chairman of the board of governors of

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) ( he, אוניברסיטת בן-גוריון בנגב, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev has five campuses: the ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

Biography

Gaon was born in Sudan to

Turkish Jews The history of the Jews in Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Yahudileri or ; he, יהודים טורקים, Yehudim Turkim; lad, Djudios Turkos) covers the 2400 years that Jews have lived in what is now Turkey. There have been Jewish communities in An ...

who had been transplanted to Spain and later moved to Egypt and the Sudan. He was married to Renée Tamman (1925–2013), with whom he had three children: Marguerite Herzog, David N. Gaon, and Danielle Coën-Gaon. Aside from the posts Gaon held in world Jewish organizations, he was the founder of

Hekhal Haness Synagogue The Hekhal Haness Synagogue ( he, בית הכנסת היכל הנס) is the largest synagogue in Geneva, Switzerland. On May 24, 2007, the synagogue was severely damaged by a fire. Famous members * Nessim Gaon Nessim David Gaon ( ar, نسي� ...

in Geneva.

Business career

Gaon's career in trade began as a trader of burlap bags and

crocodile Crocodiles (family (biology), family Crocodylidae) or true crocodiles are large semiaquatic reptiles that live throughout the tropics in Africa, Asia, the Americas and Australia. The term crocodile is sometimes used even more loosely to inclu ...

and

snake Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...

skins in

Anglo-Egyptian Sudan Anglo-Egyptian Sudan ( ar, السودان الإنجليزي المصري ') was a condominium of the United Kingdom and Egypt in the Sudans region of northern Africa between 1899 and 1956, corresponding mostly to the territory of present-day ...

before graduating to peanut and edible oils trade. When the British relinquished power in Sudan, subsequent increase in nationalism precipitated the exile of many members of the Jewish community in

Khartoum Khartoum or Khartum ( ; ar, الخرطوم, Al-Khurṭūm, din, Kaartuɔ̈m) is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 5,274,321, its metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan. It is located at the confluence of the White Nile, flowing n ...

. Gaon emigrated to Switzerland in 1957 and became a Swiss citizen six years later. He settled in Geneva and developed a commodities trading firm with success in the peanut trade. He also dabbled into property and tourism building the Noga Hilton Hotel in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

. Nigerian government officials visiting Geneva liked the hotel and invited Hilton and Gaon to establish a similar

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

in the newly created capital city of

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

with construction expedited to host meeting of Heads of States of

ECOWAS The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS; also known as in French and Portuguese) is a regional political and economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an area of , and in ...

. Gaon through his firms Noga Commodities Overseas and Afro Continental was involved in rice, edible oils cement trade in Nigeria during the country's oil boom years in the 1970s. In 1979, he was importing 120,000 tonnes of rice to Nigeria. However, a turn in Nigeria's economy in 1984 caused non payment of government's promissory notes tied to his firm's assets affected his commodity business. Beginning in 1991, Gaon developed a barter trading interest with the Soviet Union that ended in acrimony, thereafter Gaon sought legal options to claim unpaid debts through confiscation of Russian assets abroad.

References

External links

Nessim Gaon profile on the Museum of the Jewish People website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaon, Nessim 1922 births 2022 deaths Men centenarians People from Khartoum Sudanese emigrants to Switzerland Sudanese Jews Swiss Sephardi Jews Swiss people of Egyptian descent Swiss people of Turkish-Jewish descent Swiss centenarians Sudanese centenarians