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== Business interests ==
== Business interests ==
In 1950 he created a new [[Niche market|marketing niche]] by persuading the US-government to stockpile [[Africa]]n [[diamond]]s for industrial and military purposes, with him as [[middleman]], and in 1957, at the age of 27, he and his lawyer, Adlai Stevenson, traveled to Africa, where Tempelsman had begun forging ties with leaders. His contacts eventually ranged from South African revolutionary [[Oliver Tambo]] to Zaire's dictator, [[Mobutu Sese Seko]] and the influential [[Ernest Oppenheimer|Oppenheimer diamond family]]. Tempelsman is also one of only 160 [[sightholders]] in the world, which means that 10 times a year he is permitted to buy diamonds directly from the powerful [[De Beers]] cartel.
In 1950 he created a new [[Niche market|marketing niche]] by persuading the US-government to stockpile [[Africa]]n [[diamond]]s for industrial and military purposes, with him as [[middleman]], and in 1957, at the age of 27, he and his lawyer, Adlai Stevenson, traveled to Africa, where Tempelsman had begun forging ties with leaders. His contacts eventually ranged from South African revolutionary [[Oliver Tambo]] to Zaire's [[kleptocratic]] dictator, [[Mobutu Sese Seko]] and the influential [[Ernest Oppenheimer|Oppenheimer diamond family]]. Tempelsman is [[chairman]] of the [[board of directors]] of [[Lazare Kaplan International|Lazare Kaplan International Inc.]] (LKI), the largest diamond company in the United States, noted for its "ideal [[Diamond cut|cut]]" diamonds sold worldwide under the brand name, Lazare Diamonds.<ref name=haaretz/><ref name=lazare>{{cite news | url=http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/news/business/companies/lazare-kaplan-international-inc/index.html | title=Lazare Kaplan International Inc. | work=[[New York Times]]| first=Philip&nbsp;H. | last=Dougherty}}</ref><ref name=mmegi>{{cite news | url=http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=4&aid=39&dir=2009/January/Friday16 | title=Lazare Kaplan sales down as worried buyers reassess strategy | date=January 16, 2009 |work=[[Mmegi]] | publisher=mmegi.bw | accessdate=November 9, 2009 }}</ref>Tempelsman is one of only 160 ″[[sightholders]]″ in the world, which means that 10 times a year he is permitted to buy diamonds directly from the powerful [[De Beers]] cartel in the [[City of London]], because DeBeers is a virtual monopoly, it cannot operate legally in the United States.

[[File:Maurice Tempelsman.jpg|thumb|Maurice Tempelsman in July 1974]]
Tempelsman is [[chairman]] of the [[board of directors]] of [[Lazare Kaplan International|Lazare Kaplan International Inc.]] (LKI), the largest diamond company in the United States, noted for its "ideal [[Diamond cut|cut]]" diamonds sold worldwide under the brand name, Lazare Diamonds.<ref name=haaretz/><ref name=lazare>{{cite news | url=http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/news/business/companies/lazare-kaplan-international-inc/index.html | title=Lazare Kaplan International Inc. | work=[[New York Times]]| first=Philip&nbsp;H. | last=Dougherty}}</ref><ref name=mmegi>{{cite news | url=http://www.mmegi.bw/index.php?sid=4&aid=39&dir=2009/January/Friday16 | title=Lazare Kaplan sales down as worried buyers reassess strategy | date=January 16, 2009 |work=[[Mmegi]] | publisher=mmegi.bw | accessdate=November 9, 2009 }}</ref> He is also a [[general partner]] of Leon Tempelsman & Son, an [[investment company]] specializing in [[real estate]] and [[venture capital]].<ref name=forbes>{{cite news | url=http://people.forbes.com/profile/maurice-tempelsman/48702 | title=Maurice Tempelsman Profile | work=[[Forbes]] | publisher=people.forbes.com | accessdate=November 14, 2009 }}</ref>
[[File:Maurice Tempelsman.jpg|thumb|Maurice Tempelsman sitting at a table with neo-Stalinist dictator [[Nicolae Ceausescu]] (not in this detail of the photo) in [[Romanian]] July 1974]] He is also a [[general partner]] of Leon Tempelsman & Son, an [[investment company]] specializing in [[real estate]] and [[venture capital]].<ref name=forbes>{{cite news | url=http://people.forbes.com/profile/maurice-tempelsman/48702 | title=Maurice Tempelsman Profile | work=[[Forbes]] | publisher=people.forbes.com | accessdate=November 14, 2009 }}</ref>


=== Relationship with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis ===
=== Relationship with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis ===

Revision as of 18:13, 3 April 2013

Maurice Tempelsman December 2012

Maurice Tempelsman (born August 26, 1929) is a Belgian-American businessman and diamond merchant.[1][2] He was the longtime companion of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, former First Lady of the United States.

Personal life

Tempelsman was born on Aug. 26, 1929 in Antwerp, Belgium, the son of Leon and Helene Tempelsman, both Orthodox Jews, [3] in a Yiddish-speaking family in Antwerp’s Jewish community.[2] In 1940 Tempelsman and his family emigrated to the United States to escape persecution by Nazi Germany during World War II. When he was 16, Tempelsman began working for his father, a diamond broker.[2] He attended New York City’s public schools and New York University.[4][5][6][7][8]

Tempelsman has three grown children by his wife Lilly Bucholz, a woman who had fled Antwerp with her family too.[2] His daughter, Rena, is the widow of Robert Speisman, an executive vice president of Lazare Kaplan International Inc. who was on board American Airlines Flight 77, when the aircraft crashed into The Pentagon during the September 11 attacks.[9]

Business interests

In 1950 he created a new marketing niche by persuading the US-government to stockpile African diamonds for industrial and military purposes, with him as middleman, and in 1957, at the age of 27, he and his lawyer, Adlai Stevenson, traveled to Africa, where Tempelsman had begun forging ties with leaders. His contacts eventually ranged from South African revolutionary Oliver Tambo to Zaire's kleptocratic dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko and the influential Oppenheimer diamond family. Tempelsman is chairman of the board of directors of Lazare Kaplan International Inc. (LKI), the largest diamond company in the United States, noted for its "ideal cut" diamonds sold worldwide under the brand name, Lazare Diamonds.[10][11][12]Tempelsman is one of only 160 ″sightholders″ in the world, which means that 10 times a year he is permitted to buy diamonds directly from the powerful De Beers cartel in the City of London, because DeBeers is a virtual monopoly, it cannot operate legally in the United States.

Maurice Tempelsman sitting at a table with neo-Stalinist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu (not in this detail of the photo) in Romanian July 1974

He is also a general partner of Leon Tempelsman & Son, an investment company specializing in real estate and venture capital.[13]

Relationship with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Tempelsman was the longtime companion of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.[1][14] The two began their lengthy relationship in 1980, several years after the death of Jacqueline Kennedy’s second husband Aristotle Onassis.[10][15] In 1982, Tempelsman moved into Onassis’s Fifth Avenue penthouse apartment in New York City.[2] During their relationship, Tempelsman handled Onassis’s finances, quadrupling the $26 million secured from her late husband’s estate.[16] The couple frequently took walks through Central Park and were photographed doing so in the days preceding her death on May 19, 1994, at age 64 from Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.[17] At Onassis’s funeral service, Tempelsman read Constantine P. Cavafy’s poem Ithaca, one of her favorites, and concluded by saying: "And now the journey is over, too short, alas, too short. It was filled with adventure and wisdom, laughter and love, gallantry and grace. So farewell, farewell."[2][18] Tempelsman was one of two executors of her will.[16] She left him a "Greek alabaster head of a woman" and named Templesman as co‑chair of her charitable organization, the C & J Foundation.[16][19]

Philanthropic and political activities

Tempelsman maintains relations with political and business leaders, in particular government leaders in Africa and Russia, and leading figures in the U.S. Democratic Party.[1][10] His extensive political contacts and monetary contributions often provide him with access and prestige in those markets, as was the case during the presidency of Bill Clinton.[1][20] From 1993 to 1997, Tempelsman visited the White House at least ten times, met privately with Hillary Clinton on two separate occasions, vacationed with the Clintons and the Kennedy family in Martha's Vineyard, and flew to Moscow and back with President Clinton on Air Force One.[1][6]

In Southern Africa, Tempelsman has played a key role in negotiations between hostile governments and companies engaging in diamond exploration. He met with Mobutu Sese Seko, former dictator of Zaire, to assist the regime’s business dealings with De Beers.[21][22][23] From March 3, 1977, Tempelsman briefly held the title of honorary consul general for Zaire, now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), at the DRC’s consular offices in New York City.[24] In addition to the DRC, Tempelsman has played a key role in the diamond industries of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and Sierra Leone.[25][26][27][28]

Tempelsman served as chairman of the Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) from 1999 to 2002 and again from 2007 to 2008, after which he was named chairman emeritus.[29] An example of his work with the CCA involved assisting government leaders with establishing the New Partnership for Africa's Development.[30] Tempelsman was a board member of the Southern African Enterprise Development Fund, and past chairman and current board member of The Africa-America Institute.[8][31][32]

Tempelsman is a trustee of the Eurasia Foundation,[33] and a director of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs,[34] the Center for National Policy, the Business Council for International Understanding, and the U.S.-Russia Business Council.[8]

He is chairman of the International Advisory Council of the Harvard School of Public Health’s AIDS Initiative,[35] and is an honorary trustee and an honorary member of the corporation of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Tempelsman is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and was named a visitor to the Department of Classical Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. A director of the Academy of American Poets, Tempelsman also serves as a trustee of the New York University Institute of Fine Arts, and on Lenox Hill Hospital’s Advisory Board. He has served on several Presidential Commissions including the President’s Commission for the Observance of Human Rights, the Citizen’s Advisory Board of Youth Opportunities and the National Highway Safety Advisory Committee, and was appointed to the New York Council on International Business.[8]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Schmidt, Susan (August 2, 1997). "DNC Donor With an Eye On Diamonds". The Washington Post. washingtonpost.com. pp. A01. Retrieved November 9, 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e f McFadden, Robert D. (May 24, 1994). "Death of a First Lady: The Companion; Quietly at Her Side, Public at the End". New York Times. nytimes.com. pp. A17. Retrieved November 9, 2009.
  3. ^ Gleick, Elizabeth (July 11, 1994). "The Man Who Loved Jackie". People. 42 (2): 75–81. Retrieved November 14, 2009.
  4. ^ Heymann, Clemens David (2007). American Legacy: The Story of John and Caroline Kennedy. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 261–262. ISBN 978-0-7434-9738-1. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  5. ^ Povoledo, Elisabetta (February 26, 2008). "Tempelsman Sculptures Return to Italy". New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
  6. ^ a b Ifill, Gwen (August 25, 1993). "Clinton and Kennedys: In 30 Years, a Full Circle". New York Times. nytimes.com. pp. A10. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
  7. ^ Povoledo, Elisabetta (September 1, 2007). "Two Marble Sculptures to Return to Sicily". New York Times. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
  8. ^ a b c d "Bio: Maurice Tempelsman". Eurasia Foundation. (eurasia.org). Retrieved November 16, 2009.
  9. ^ "Robert Speisman -- Executive, 48". The New York Times. nytimes.com. September 15, 2001. pp. A21. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
  10. ^ a b c Melman, Yossi (March 25, 2005). "Diamond in the rough". Haaretz. haaretz.com. Retrieved November 9, 2009. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Dougherty, Philip H. "Lazare Kaplan International Inc". New York Times.
  12. ^ "Lazare Kaplan sales down as worried buyers reassess strategy". Mmegi. mmegi.bw. January 16, 2009. Retrieved November 9, 2009.
  13. ^ "Maurice Tempelsman Profile". Forbes. people.forbes.com. Retrieved November 14, 2009.
  14. ^ Clayson, Jane (July 25, 2000). "Reading Celebs Through Their Wills". CBS News.
  15. ^ Pottker, Jan (2002). Janet and Jackie: The Story of a Mother and Her Daughter, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin. p. 310. ISBN 978-0-312-30281-8. {{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  16. ^ a b c "Onassis Leaves Estate to Charity and Her Children". New York Times. nytimes.com. June 2, 1994. pp. A16. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
  17. ^ Gates, Anita (November 5, 2000). "A Lady Who Never Stopped Being First". New York Times. nytimes.com. pp. A4. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
  18. ^ "First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis: Memorial Tributes in the One Hundred Third Congress of the United States". United States Government Printing Office. (access.gpo.gov). 1995. p. 62. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
  19. ^ "Last Will & Testament – Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis". New York Surrogate's Court.
  20. ^ "Official Delegation Accompanying the President to Africa". Office of the Press Secretary. (clinton2.nara.gov). March 20, 1998. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
  21. ^ Epstein, Edward Jay (February 1, 1994). "The Diamond Empire". Frontline. pbs.org. Retrieved November 11, 2009. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ Goodman, Walter (February 1, 1994). "Even the Real Diamonds Have Some Artificiality". New York Times. nytimes.com. pp. C18. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
  23. ^ Hinton, Deane R. (January 23, 1975). "Telegram 641 From the Embassy in Zaire to the Department of State, January 23, 1975, 1000Z". Office of the Historian. (state.gov). Retrieved November 15, 2009.
  24. ^ "Colombia – Czech Republic". United States Department of State. (state.gov). Fall/Winter 2003. Retrieved November 16, 2009. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  25. ^ "OPIC Board Approves $250 Million to Develop Diamond Cutting and Polishing in Botswana" (Press release). Overseas Private Investment Corporation. October 10, 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
  26. ^ "OPIC & U.S. Company Partner to Improve Diamond Production and Sales in Emerging Markets" (Press release). Overseas Private Investment Corporation. October 18, 2004. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
  27. ^ "USAID Signs a $1.5 Million Partnership to Improve Economic Opportunities in Angola" (Press release). Overseas Private Investment Corporation. June 17, 2005. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
  28. ^ Kennedy, Charles Stuart (April 6, 1993). "Interview with Ambassador John A. Linehan, Jr". The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training. (lcweb2.loc.gov). Retrieved November 16, 2009.
  29. ^ "Maurice Tempelsman Bio". Eurasia Foundation. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  30. ^ "Congress Holds Hearing on New Partnership for African Development". Bureau of International Information Programs. (america.gov). September 20, 2002. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
  31. ^ "President Clinton Announces Southern African Development Fund". Office of the Press Secretary. (clinton6.nara.gov). October 6, 1994. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
  32. ^ "About Us: Board". The Africa-America Institute. (aaionline.org). Retrieved November 16, 2009.
  33. ^ Erlendsson, Elina. "2001 Annual Report" (PDF). Eurasia Foundation. (usaid.gov). p. 5. Retrieved November 16, 2009. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  34. ^ "NDI Board of Directors: Maurice Tempelsman". National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. (ndi.org). Retrieved November 16, 2009.
  35. ^ "People: International Advisory Council". Harvard School of Public Health. (aids.harvard.edu). Retrieved November 15, 2009.

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