Ezra Khedouri Zilkha (July 31, 1925 – October 2, 2019) was an American financier and philanthropist.

Early life

Ezra Zilkha was born on July 31, 1925, in Baghdad, the son of the banker

Khedouri Zilkha Khedouri Aboody Zilkha (1884–1956) was an Iraqi-Jewish banker. Early life Khedouri Zilkha was born in Baghdad in 1884 (or 1886), the only son of the textile merchant Aboudi Zilkha (1862–1904). Career He started as a banker in Baghdad in 190 ...

. He grew up in Baghdad, Beirut, Cairo, and New York City.

Career

Zilkha worked for the family's banking businesses in Hong Kong, London, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and Paris, before working for various companies in the US, In 1985, his net worth was estimated at US$150 million. and Zilkha was in the

Forbes 400 The ''Forbes'' 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by ''Forbes'' magazine of the wealthiest 400 American citizens who own assets in the U.S., ranked by net worth. The 400 was started by Malcolm Forbes in 1982 and the list is ...

list of richest Americans. He was president of Zilkha & Sons from 1956, president of Intermediate Corporation from 1991.

Philanthropy

His philanthropy especially in education, the arts and for the disabled, was "formidable". He was a trustee of the International Center for the Disabled and The American Society of the French Legion of Honor, a trustee emeritus of

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

, and an honorary trustee of the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics (and tax policy), metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global econo ...

Personal life

In February 1950, he married Cecile Iny, and they had three children,

Donald Donald is a Scottish masculine given name. It is derived from the Gaelic name ''Dòmhnall''.. This comes from the Proto-Celtic *''Dumno-ualos'' ("world-ruler" or "world-wielder"). The final -''d'' in ''Donald'' is partly derived from a misinter ...

, Donna, and Bettina. Zilkha died at his home on October 2, 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zilkha, Ezra 2019 deaths 1925 births Iraqi bankers Iraqi Jews People from Baghdad

Ezra Ezra ( fl. fifth or fourth century BCE) is the main character of the Book of Ezra. According to the Hebrew Bible, he was an important Jewish scribe (''sofer'') and priest (''kohen'') in the early Second Temple period. In the Greek Septuagint, t ...

American financiers 20th-century American philanthropists Iraqi expatriates in Lebanon Iraqi expatriates in Egypt Iraqi emigrants to the United States