Salem bin Laden () (4 January 1946 – 29 May 1988) was a Saudi Arabian investor and businessman.

Life

Salem was the eldest son of Muhammad bin Laden, the founder of the Saudi Binladin Group, and a half-brother of the militant jihadist

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Laden (10 March 19572 May 2011) was a militant leader who was the founder and first general emir of al-Qaeda. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, Bin Laden participated in the Afghan ''mujahideen'' against the Soviet Union, and support ...

. Bin Laden was educated at Millfield and acted as the patriarch of the

bin Laden family The bin Laden family (), also spelled bin Ladin, is a wealthy Hadharem, Hadhrami family intimately connected with the innermost circles of the House of Saud, Saudi royal family. It is the namesake and controlling shareholder of the Saudi Binladi ...

after the 1967 death of his father. Salem managed the family's extensive investment portfolio and was in charge of the 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 the close relationship of the bin Ladens with the Saudi royal family. 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 and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

knew James Bath, a Texan businessman 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. 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 and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

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

Death

Salem bin Laden died on 29 May 1988, in a plane crash in an ultralight aircraft that he was personally piloting. During the flight, he accidentally collided with high-voltage electrical power lines adjacent to the Kitty Hawk airfield on the outskirts of Schertz, a suburb of

San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

. The Sprint ultralight aircraft 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 did not investigate the incident because ultralight aircraft, like the one Salem was flying, fell outside their jurisdiction per FAR Part 103 Provisions, exempting such aircraft from their mandate. The Schertz Police, who attended to the incident, stated in their report that Salem died in a "freak accident". Following his death, Salem's body was transported back to Saudi Arabia and accorded the honor of a burial in

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

, one of the most sacred cities in the

Islamic world The terms Islamic world and Muslim world commonly refer to the Islamic community, which is also known as the Ummah. This consists of all those who adhere to the religious beliefs, politics, and laws of Islam or to societies in which Islam is ...

. A significant memorial event was held at the bin Laden family compound in

Jeddah Jeddah ( ), alternatively transliterated as Jedda, Jiddah or Jidda ( ; , ), is a List of governorates of Saudi Arabia, governorate and the largest city in Mecca Province, Saudi Arabia, and the country's second largest city after Riyadh, located ...

, spanning two days. All of the twenty-two bin Laden sons formed a line to receive the thousands of guests attending the funeral. Salem, who had secured a billion-dollar contract in the early 1980s for the innovation of the

Prophet's Mosque The Prophet's Mosque () is the List of the oldest mosques, second mosque built by the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad in Medina, after the Quba Mosque, as well as the second List of large mosques, la ...

, had effectively managed his father's business and had been instrumental to the family's ongoing success and prosperity. The memorial served as a testament to Salem's contributions and the deep respect held for him within the family and the community. This was the second plane crash-related death in the bin Laden family, as Salem's father, Muhammed bin Laden, also died 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

'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