Selim Zilkha | |
|---|---|
| Born | 7 April 1927 Baghdad, Iraq |
| Died | 16 September 2022 |
| Alma mater | Williams College |
| Occupation | Entrepreneur |
| Known for | Founder of Mothercare |
| Spouse | Diane Bashi (divorced) |
| Children | 2, including Michael Zilkha |
| Parent | Khedouri Zilkha |
| Relatives | Ezra Zilkha (brother) Abdullah Zilkha (brother) Maurice Zilkha (brother) |
Selim Khedouri Zilkha (7 April 1927 – 16 September 2022) was an Iraqi-born British entrepreneur, who founded Mothercare, one of the UK's largest retail chains until it was put into administration in 2019.
Early life
Zilkha was born in 1927[1] in Baghdad to an Iraqi Jewish family, the son of the banker Khedouri Zilkha,[2] and raised in Lebanon, Egypt and the United States. He was educated at the Horace Mann School in New York City and Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.[3] He was in the US Army during the Second World War.[3]
Career
Zilkha worked in finance in the family firm, Zilkha & Sons, from 1947 to 1960.[3]
Zilkha then moved to the UK, where he bought the 50-store W.J. Harris nursery furniture chain, which he renamed Mothercare, and expanded it until it had over 400 stores. He sold his interest in Mothercare in 1981 and moved back to the United States.[3]
In 1982, he invested $28 million in Towner Petroleum[4] and, in 1998, he sold his investment for $1 billion.[5]
In 2001, his net worth was estimated at US$700 million.[6]
In 2002, he donated $20 million to complete a Neurogenetic Institute in Los Angeles.[3]
In 2010, he became the co-owner of Zilkha Biomass Energy, which owns timberland and which makes pellet biofuel in Texas.[7] He was also the co-owner of Laetitia Vineyard & Winery, Inc. in San Luis Obispo, California, until 2019.[8]
Personal life
He married Diane Bashi, the daughter of a wealthy Lebanese banker. They had divorced by 1962, before she was 25, and she married the British politician Harold Lever (later Harold Lever, Baron Lever of Manchester).[9]
They had a son, Michael Zilkha, the co-founder of ZE Records, and a daughter, Nadia Zilkha.[10]
References
- ↑ Biography at Laetitia Vineyard website
- ↑ Phyllis Berman, "From Baghdad to Bel Air", Forbes, 23 February 1998
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Los Angeles Businessman Selim Zilkha Pledges $20 million to USC's Neurogenetic Institute", USC News, 30 July 2002
- ↑ "A wildcatter on the tame side replacing roughnecks with computers". The New York Times. 20 March 1998.
- ↑ "Selim Zilkha (USA)". The Sunday Times. 1 March 2009. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- ↑ Peter W. Bernstein; Annalyn Swan (2 December 2008). All the Money in the World. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. p. 360. ISBN 978-0-307-26770-2. Retrieved 24 November 2015 – via Google Books.
- ↑ "Our Owners: Selim K. Zilkha". Zilkha Biomass Energy. Archived from the original on 8 January 2012.
- ↑ "Company Overview of Zilkha Biomass Energy, LLC". Bloomberg Business. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
- ↑ "Stock Photo - Mar. 15, 1962 - LABOUR MP MARRIES IRAQI HEIRESS: Harold Lever, 48, Labour MP for Manchester's Cheatham, Division, today married". Alamy. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
- ↑ "Salim Zilkha (Living, Male) & Diane Bashi (Living, Female)". Fleurs de l'Orient. Retrieved 29 July 2018.
- ↑ "Obituary: Selim Khedouri Zilkha". Dignity Memorial. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
- ↑ "In memoriam: Selim Zilkha, co-founder of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute". University of South Carolina. 24 October 2022. Retrieved 14 April 2023.