Joseph Safra

Joseph Safra, a former immigrant from Lebanon who became Brazil’s richest person and one of the most successful bankers in the world through a lifetime of deal-making, died on Dec. 10 in São Paulo, Brazil. He was 82. The death was announced in a statement by Banco Safra, the company he led. In recent years he was treated for Parkinson’s disease, according to local press reports. Born in Beirut into a Jewish family whose ancestors included money changers on the Ottoman Empire’s caravan routes, Mr. Safra emigrated to Brazil with his father, Jacob, after World War II and with his family, including his brothers Edmond and Moise, built a private banking empire that reached from São Paulo to Geneva to New York. Forbes magazine this month estimated Mr. Safra’s net worth at $23.2 billion. Banco Safra is Brazil’s eighth largest private bank; its two offshoots are Safra National Bank of New York and the J. Safra Sarasin bank in Switzerland. Mr. Safra also held a stake in the banana firm Chiquita Brands International and owned the “Gherkin” skyscraper in London’s financial district as well as 660 Madison Avenue, the home of Barneys New York at East 61 Street in Manhattan. For three decades he lived in the shadow of his higher profile brother Edmond, a fellow multibillionaire who died at 67 in a fire set by an arsonist in a Monte Carlo penthouse in 1999. In 2006, Joseph Safra paid a reported $2.5 billion for his brother Moise’s 50 percent stake in Banco Safra, cementing his control of the family business. (Moise Safra died in 2014 at 79.) Moise Safra left the business in 2006 after years of wrangles with Joseph over its future. Last year, one of Joseph’s sons, Alberto, left Banco Safra after a dispute with another sibling, David. The family also fought a public battle over the will of Edmond Safra, whose death in 1999 came just weeks after he had agreed to sell his share in a New York bank to HSBC for almost $10 billion. Owner of Brazil's 9th largest bank. Banco Safra enjoyed growth thanks to Brazil's hot finance market. In 2006 Joseph bought his older brother Moise's 50% share of their financial empir e, including Banco Safra, Safra National Bank of New York and Banque Safra-Luxembourg, for an undisclosed sum estimated at $2 billion. Joseph and Moise's deceased brother Edmond had a separate multibillion-dollar banking fortune, part of which he left to his wife, Lily, also a billionaire. Reportedly paid $285 million in 2010 for the 660 Madison Ave. building, home to Barneys New York. Mr. Safra moved to Switzerland with his wife, Vicky Safra, 10 years ago. But he frequently returned to his home in São Paulo, a 130-room mansion. He is survived by his wife; his sons Alberto, David and Jacob; a daughter, Esther; and 14 grandchildren.