Sakıp Sabancı (7 April 1933 – 10 April 2004) was a Turkish business

tycoon A business magnate, also known as a tycoon, is a person who has achieved immense wealth through the ownership of multiple lines of enterprise. The term characteristically refers to a powerful entrepreneur or investor who controls, through perso ...

and philanthropist.

Biography

He was the second son of a cotton trader and worked in his father's business without completing high school. He was the head of Turkey's largest business conglomerate and 147th richest man on the

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

list of billionaires in 2004. He took over the family business with assistance from his brothers starting in the 1980s. The Sabanci Group of Companies operates in eighteen different countries and markets its products internationally. Currently,

Sabancı Holding Hacı Ömer Sabancı Holding A.Ş., commonly abbreviated as Sabancı Holding, is an industrial and financial conglomerate with headquarters in Istanbul, Turkey. The company's primary activities are in financial services, energy (electricity generat ...

controls more than 60 companies, in textiles, tourism, automotives, chemicals, tobacco, cement, insurance and banking. The group also has partnerships with the Hilton Group, Bridgestone, Du Pont, Philip Morris,

Bekaert N.V. Bekaert S.A. (Euronext Brussels: BEKB) is a global company with headquarters in Belgium, employing 28,000 people worldwide. Its primary business is steel wire transformation and coatings. Operating in 45 countries, Bekaert generated combined ...

Heidelberg Cement HeidelbergCement is a German multinational building materials company headquartered in Heidelberg, Germany. It is a DAX corporation and is one of the largest building materials companies in the world. On 1 July 2016, HeidelbergCement AG complet ...

, IBM, BNP Paribas, Dresdner Bank,

Carrefour Carrefour () is a French multinational retail and wholesaling corporation headquartered in Massy, France. The eighth-largest retailer in the world by revenue, it operates a chain of hypermarkets, groceries stores and convenience stores, whic ...

and

International Paper The International Paper Company is an American pulp and paper company, the largest such company in the world. It has approximately 56,000 employees, and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. History The company was incorporated January 31 ...

. Sabancı Holding and ten other companies within the group are listed on the Istanbul Stock Exchange. In 2011, the consolidated revenue of the company was $13.4 billion. The Sabanci family holds a 60.6% share of the firm. Sakip Sabanci founded the Sabancı University in 1999. His collections of more than 320 Ottoman and Turkish paintings, statues and more than 400 examples of Ottoman calligraphy are exhibited at Atlı Köşk (The Equestrian Villa) at

Bosporus The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Tu ...

in Emirgan, Istanbul, where he and his family lived for years, and which was converted into the

Sakıp Sabancı Museum The Sabancı University Sakıp Sabancı Museum ( tr, Sakıp Sabancı Müzesi) is a private fine arts museum in Istanbul, Turkey, dedicated to calligraphic art, religious and state documents, as well as paintings of the Ottoman era. The museum w ...

in 2002. He died of

kidney cancer Kidney cancer, also known as renal cancer, is a group of cancers that starts in the kidney. Symptoms may include blood in the urine, lump in the abdomen, or back pain. Fever, weight loss, and tiredness may also occur. Complications can include sp ...

at the age of 71 and received a state funeral.

Honorary doctorates

Sabancı received

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

s from following Turkish and American

universities A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...

: *1984

Anadolu University Anadolu University ( tr, Anadolu Üniversitesi) is a public university in Eskişehir, Turkey. The university is known for its success in verbal fields such as history and communication. Its Faculty of Communication Sciences is sometimes considered ...

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from "old" and "city") is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 898,369 with a metropolitan population of 797,708. The city is located on the banks of the ...

*1986

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, m ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

, United States *1992

Yıldız Technical University Yıldız Technical University ( Tr. ''Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi'', often simply referred to as YTU or Yıldız) is a prominent technical university dedicated to engineering and natural sciences as well as social sciences recently, and is one ...

, Istanbul *1993

Erciyes University Erciyes University ( tr, Erciyes Üniversitesi) is a Turkish institute of higher education located in Kayseri, Turkey. As of 4 April 2019, a total of 64,194 students were studying for their bachelor's degree and postgraduate studies. Background ...

, Kayseri *1997

Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University (informally ''ÇOMÜ'') is a Turkish public research university located in Çanakkale (Dardannelles) province (near Gallipoli) and its surrounding towns. It is a member of the Balkan Universities Network, the ...

Çanakkale Çanakkale (pronounced ), ancient ''Dardanellia'' (), is a city and seaport in Turkey in Çanakkale province on the southern shore of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. The population of the city is 195,439 (2021 estimate). Çanakkale is ...

Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University The Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University ( tr, Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar Üniversitesi, or MSGSÜ) is a Turkish public university dedicated to higher education in the fine arts. It is located in the Fındıklı neighbourhood of Beyoğlu, Istanbul ...

, Istanbul :: Girne American University,

Kyrenia Kyrenia ( el, Κερύνεια ; tr, Girne ) is a city on the northern coast of Cyprus, noted for its historic harbour and castle. It is under the ''de facto'' control of Northern Cyprus. While there is evidence showing that the wider region ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

Trakya University Trakya University ( tr, Trakya Üniversitesi), was established on July 20, 1982. The university is located in Edirne, at Turkey's European side (Eastern Thrace). Trakya University is a regional university with institutions and schools spread o ...

Edirne Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis ( Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders ...

:: Istanbul University, Istanbul *1998

Southeastern University Southeastern University is a private Christian university in Lakeland, Florida. It was established in 1935 in New Brockton, Alabama, as Southeastern Bible Institute, relocated to Lakeland in 1946, and became a liberal arts college in 1970. It i ...

Washington D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

, United States *1999

Çukurova University Çukurova University ( tr, Çukurova Üniversitesi) is a public university in Adana, Turkey. The university has sixteen faculties, three colleges, seven vocational colleges, three institutes and twenty six research and application centers. ...

Adana Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million. Adana lies in the heart of Cilicia, wh ...

*2002 Kırıkkale University,

Kırıkkale Kırıkkale is the capital of the Kırıkkale Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. It is located 80 km east of Ankara which is the capital city of Turkey. According to the 2000 census, the population of the province is 280,83 ...

Awards

He was awarded by various national and international institutions as listed below: *1979 "Golden Mercury Award" given to successful businessmen. *1987

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

" Ordre de Léopold II, Commander Class" by Belgian Prince Albert (now King

Albert II of Belgium , house = Belgium , father = Leopold III of Belgium , mother = Astrid of Sweden , birth_date = , birth_place = Stuyvenberg Castle, Laeken, Brussels, Belgium , death_date = , death_place = , signature = Albert II of Belgium Signat ...

). *1992 Japanese " Order of the Sacred Treasure, Golden and Silver Star" from the Japanese Government. *1997 Turkish " State Medal of Distinguished Service" by the Turkish President Süleyman Demirel. *1997 "European Chrystal World Award" from the European Institute for Economy in Zurich, Switzerland. *1999 "Businessman of the Year Award" by the FABSIT (Friends of American Board Schools in Turkey) Foundation in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, USA. *1999 Turkish "Grand Prize of Culture and Arts" from the Ministry of Culture of the

Turkish Republic Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

. *2001 Turkish "Industry Technology and Quality Award" by the GYTE (Gebze Institute for High Technology). *2001 French "

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

" from President Jacques Chirac for his contributions to the Franco-Turkish relationships in culture and business.

Books

He wrote books mostly on his experience in business life. Some of them are translated into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...

. The royalties from his books are being donated to Darülaceze ( Almshouse) and Türkiye Spastik Çocuklar Vakfı (Turkey Foundation for Spastic Children). #''İşte Hayatım'' (''This is my life''), 1985 #''Para Başarının Mükafatıdır'' (''Money is the reward of success''), 1985 #''This is my life'' (English) 1988 #''Gönül Galerimden'' (''From the galleria of my heart''), 1988 #''Rusya'dan Amerika'ya'' (''From Russia to America''), 1989 #''Ücret Pazarlığı mı ? - Koyun Pazarlığı mı ?'' (''Is it wage bargain or sheep bargain ?)'', 1990 #''Değişen ve Gelişen Türkiye'' (''Turkey, Changing and Developing''), 1991 #''Daha Fazla İş Daha Fazla Aş'' (''More work, more food''), 1993 #''Doğu Anadolu Raporu'' (''Eastern Anatolian report''), 1995 #''Başarı Şimdi Aslanın Ağzında'' (''Success is now in the lion's mouth''), 1998 #''İşte Hayatım'' (Japanese), 2000 #''Hayat Bazen Tatlıdır'' (''Life is sometimes sweet''), 2001 #''Sakıpname'' (''Dedicated to Sakıp''), 2002 #''...bıraktığım yerden Hayatım;'' (''My life from where I left off''), 445 pp, . #''Her Şeyin Başı Sağlık;'' (''Health first'') 176 pp, .

References

External links