Salem bin Mohammed bin 'Awad bin Laden ( ar, سالم بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن) (4 January 1946 – 29 May 1988) was a Saudi Arabian investor and businessman.

Life

Considered the eldest son of

Mohammed bin Laden Muhammad Binladin ( ar, محمد بن لادن, translit=Muḥammad Binlādin; – 3 September 1967) was a Saudi tycoon who founded the Saudi Binladin Group. He worked primarily in the construction industry and became the wealthiest non-royal S ...

, he was the founder of

Saudi Binladin Group Saudi Binladin Group (SBG) is a Saudi construction company headquartered in Jeddah, Hejaz. It is the largest construction company of the Middle East. The company is owned primarily by the Bin Laden family. Founded by Muhammad Binladin in 1931, ...

and a half-brother of

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

. Bin Laden was educated at

Millfield Millfield is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) located in Street, Somerset, England. It was founded in 1935. Millfield is a registered charity and is the largest co-educational boarding schoo ...

and acted as the patriarch of the

bin Laden family The Binladin family ( ar, عائلة بن لادن, ) is an Arab family intimately connected with the innermost circles of the House of Saud, Saudi royal family. It is the namesake and controlling shareholder of Saudi Binladin Group, a multinati ...

after the 1967 death of his father. Salem managed the family's extensive investment portfolio and was in charge of family income distribution. He also oversaw the individual education plans for each of his (half-) brothers and (half-) sisters. Just like his father, he highly valued close relationship of the bin Ladens with the

Saudi royal family The House of Saud ( ar, آل سُعُود, ʾĀl Suʿūd ) is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia. It is composed of the descendants of Muhammad bin Saud, founder of the Emirate of Diriyah, known as the First Saudi state (1727–1818), an ...

. He provided means and support to the family during the Mecca uprising of 1979.

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

knew James Bath, a Texan businessmen who served as the North American representative for rich Saudis among Bin Laden relatives and using Bath connections he met billionaire Salem bin Laden, banker and BCCI

Khalid bin Mahfouz Khalid bin Mahfouz ( ar, خالد بن محفوظ; December 26, 1949 – August 16, 2009) was a Saudi Arabian billionaire, banker, businessman, investor and former chairman of the National Commercial Bank (NCB). Khalid is the son of Salem Bin Ma ...

. The two Saudis were willing to invest in the oil business. Salem Bin Laden was one of the investors in the Arbusto oil company, created by George W. Bush in 1979. He owned a house in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County, Florida, Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Greater Orlando, Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, acco ...

, and often used it for vacation stays.Peter Bergen, "Holy War, Inc.", 2001.

Death

Salem bin Laden died on 29 May 1988, when he accidentally drifted into high-voltage electrical power lines adjacent to the Kitty Hawk Field of Dreams Ultra-Lite Flying Field at the edge of

Schertz Schertz ( ) is a city in Guadalupe, Bexar, and Comal counties in the U.S. state of Texas, within the metropolitan area. The population was 42,002 at the 2020 census, up from 31,465 at the 2010 census. Schertz was settled by Alsatian emigrants ...

, a northeastern

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

suburb. The Sprint

ultralight aircraft Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

he was flying fell 115 feet to the ground after the wire strike. Salem, who was not wearing a safety helmet, died of head injuries from the resulting fall. The

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...

did not conduct an accident investigation since the aircraft was an ultralight aircraft, which was not covered under their mandate due to exemption while operating under FAR Part 103 Provisions required by Federal law. The Schertz Police, who attended to the incident, stated in the report that Salem died in a freak accident. This was the second plane crash-related death in the bin Laden family, as Salem's father Mohammed bin Laden was also killed in a plane crash in 1967. A third plane crash claimed more members of the bin Laden family on 31 July 2015 when a business jet carrying Osama bin Laden's half sister, Sana, and his stepmother, Rajaa Hashim, crashed at Blackbushe airport in Hampshire, England.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bin Laden, Salem Salem 1946 births 1988 deaths Accidental deaths in Texas Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States Salem People educated at Millfield Saudi Arabian expatriates in the United States Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1988