Lily Safra

Lily Safra (born 30 December 1934 in Porto Alegre, Brazil ) is a Brazilian - Monegasque philanthropist.

Life

Safra grew up as Lily Watkins on in Rio de Janeiro. At age 17, she married the Brazilian Mario Cohen, from whom she divorced in the 1960s. In his second marriage in 1965 she married Alfredo "Freddy" Monteverde, who committed suicide in 1969, and his third wife in 1972, she married Samuel Bendahan from which she divorced after a year. She was married in 1976 in fourth marriage with the Brazilian entrepreneur and Jewish banker Edmond Safra, whose fortune she inherited after his death. You belong among other things, the Villa Leopolda on the French Riviera.

In 1977 she founded the International Sephardic Education Foundation. Safra is chairman of the Edmond Safra Foundation. According to the U.S. Forbes magazine it is one of the wealthiest residents of Monaco.

Prizes and Awards (selection)

• Legion of Honor, Chevalier, 2005
• Honorary doctorate from Imperial College London
• Honorary doctorate from Brandeis University
• Honorary doctorate from the University of Haifa