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Joseph Safra, a Lebanese-born financier who became the world’s richest banker after building an international empire from his adoptive country, Brazil, has died at the age of 82. A descendant of a banking dynasty that began financing camel caravans at the time of the Ottoman Empire in Syria, Safra accompanied his father Jacob to Brazil as a migrant in 1962 and helped build the family business, today one of the largest financial institutions. from Latin America. .
Famous for his discretion and conservatism, Safra chaired the Safra Group, a conglomerate that includes banks, real estate, pulp and bananas, until his death. Forbes magazine valued his wealth this month at $ 23.2 billion, making him the 63rd richest person in the world and the richest banker.
A statement from the Safra Group in which he announced his death from natural causes described “Seu José”, as his friends called him, as “an affable and insightful man, who dedicated his life to his family, friends, companies and social causes” .
At the office, Safra was known for his attention to detail, strict professional ethics, and careful analysis of business risk. “Even up there, he will surely be watching the entire company closely,” Luiz Fernando Loureiro, a former bank employee, said on a social network.
Safra’s broad portfolio of global properties includes the Gherkin building in London, one of the city’s most famous landmarks, purchased for £ 726 million in 2014. In New York, the family’s estate includes the 660 building on Madison Avenue, which housed Barney’s department store until it went bankrupt last year.
Despite his immense wealth and commercial success, Safra rejected advertising. He rarely gave interviews, avoided social columns, was married to the same woman his entire life, and rejected the extravagant lifestyle of some other billionaires.
“His legacy in the development of the national economy will be marked forever in the history of Brazil, a country he adopted 58 years ago,” said Isaac Sidney, president of the national association of banks, Febraban. “Joseph Safra was also an example as a businessman and philanthropist.”
A descendant of a Sephardic Jewish family, Safra was born in Beirut in 1938 and was led by his father, Jacob, who left the Middle East in the turbulent period after the creation of the State of Israel, fearing a third world war. Jacob chose Brazil as his safe haven and thrived in his entrepreneurial capital, São Paulo, where the family played a key role in shaping the global system of private banks.
Jacob’s advice was enshrined as the Safra Group’s motto: “If you decide to navigate the seas of the banking system, build your bank like a ship would, with the strength to safely navigate through any storm.”
Safra was famous for his conservative business decisions, and his rivals in Brazil used to joke that he only lent money to people who did not need the money. His prudence led the family’s business empire to avoid the need for help in the various financial crises that have marked Brazil’s recent history, though critics complained that it sometimes takes time to innovate.
Tragedy hit the family when Safra’s older brother, Edmond, was killed in an arson attack at his Monte Carlo apartment in 1999. Edmond’s American nurse, Ted Maher, a former green beret, was later convicted and arrested. for causing the fire. The death of the financier led the family to a battle over Edmond’s bank assets, according to the newspaper “O Estado”.
After his brother Moise refused to sell his share of the family business, Joseph opened a rival bank in São Paulo, across the street, called J Safra, which competed with the family’s main bank for the same clients. The couple only reached an agreement to resolve their differences when Moise sold it to Joseph in 2006, after two years of negotiations.
“They were different ideas, brothers who fight because they want different things,” said Rodrigo Marcatti, executive director of Veedha Investimentos, who was working with Safra at the time. “Each one wanted to go in a different direction. Pride ends up speaking louder. If they were two professionals in charge of the company, they would have reached a consensus.”
The family made headlines again in 2016, when Brazilian prosecutors charged Safra with corruption. It was said that he was aware of plans to bribe tax authorities to cancel the collection of large tax debts from his companies. Safra denied the charges, which were dropped the same year.
In Switzerland, the family’s interests include J Safra Sarasin, a private bank created with the acquisition of Sarasin in 2011. Their international interests include the Safra National Bank of New York and a 50% stake in the acquired Chiquita banana plantation. in 2014. .
Known for his philanthropy and love of the arts, the banker had a spacious mansion surrounded by high walls in the Morumbi neighborhood in São Paulo, where gated condos sit in one of the largest slums in the city.
“If I could have gone back in time, I would not have built such a big house,” he once said, adding that he felt guilty for living in a palace while so many families suffered in poverty.
Safra donated Rodin’s sculptures to a museum in São Paulo, money for two hospitals and for the construction of an elegant synagogue. The family’s best-known donation was made through the Jacob Safra Foundation, which delivered Albert Einstein’s original manuscript on the theory of relativity to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
The billionaire banker spent the last years of his life in Switzerland. The Brazilian press reported that he suffered from Parkinson’s disease. Safra, one of nine siblings, leaves behind his wife, Vicky, four children and 14 grandchildren.
