Obituary: David Azrieli, Property Mogul and Israel Donor
July 10, 2014 | Read Time: 1 minute
David Azrieli, a Canadian-Israeli real-estate tycoon who has donated hundreds of millions of dollars to Jewish causes in both countries, died Wednesday at his country home in Quebec, The Jerusalem Post reports. He was 92.
A native of Poland who fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Mr. Azrieli moved to Canada in the 1950s. With property companies in Canada and Israel—where he built the country’s first shopping mall—he amassed a fortune estimated at $2.9-billion.
In March, Mr. Azrieli donated corporate shares worth $231-million to the Azrieli Foundation, which focuses on education and youth programs in Israel. The gift was announced shortly after his daughters outlined plans for the family fund to give away $100-million over the next five years, matching its grants for the past 23 years.
