Edmond Safra

Edmond Jacob Safra{{Cite news |last=Tagliabue |first=John |date=1999-12-04 |title=E. J. Safra, 67, Banker and Philanthropist |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/12/04/world/e-j-safra-67-banker-and-philanthropist.html |access-date=2025-03-22 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} was born on 6 August 1932, in Beirut, Lebanon,[https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8HL-G2G Edmond Safra] (1954) and [https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KX23-68F Edmond Safra] (1954) information from the National Archives, Rio de Janeiro. Scan of Edmond Safra's Brazilian entry visa on 1954 on familysearch.org{{cite news |first=John |last=Lichfield |title=Billionaire who blew whistle on Russian cash scandal is killed in Monte Carlo |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/billionaire-who-blew-whistle-on-russian-cash-scandal-is-killed-in-monte-carlo-1130020.html |newspaper=The Independent |date=4 December 1999 |access-date=19 February 2018 }}{{cite web |title=Edmond J. Safra |url=http://www.edmondjsafra.org/edmond-jsafra |publisher=Edmond Safra foundation official website |access-date=19 February 2018 |archive-date=2 August 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802030648/http://www.edmondjsafra.org/edmond-jsafra |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |first=Jesse |last=Angelo |title=BUILDING AN EMPIRE: HOW LEBANESE-BORN BANKER EDMOND SAFRA BECAME ONE OF THE WORLD'S RICHEST MEN|url=https://nypost.com/1999/12/04/building-an-empire-how-lebanese-born-banker-edmond-safra-became-one-of-the-world-esq-s-richest-men/ |newspaper=New York Post |date=4 December 1999 |access-date=19 February 2018 }} his family is of Sephardic Jewish background originally from Aleppo, Syria.(Page 6, 2015's version)

https://www.edmondjsafra.org/book/{{Cite web |date=31 October 2022 |title=Edmond J. Safra: A biography on the Sephardi Jewish legend – review |url=https://www.jpost.com/jerusalem-report/article-720753 |access-date=2 February 2024 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |language=en-US}} His father, Jacob Safra, had opened the J. E. Safra Bank in 1920 in Beirut and in 1929 it became the Banque Jacob E. Safra which in 1956 changed its name to Banque de Credit National S.A.L. (BCN).{{cite news |url=http://www.bcnlb.com/overview.html |title=Banque de Credit National S.A.L.: Overview History |work=Banque de Credit National S. A. L. (bcnlb.com) |date=July 2013 |access-date=1 April 2022 |archive-date=5 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130705022544/http://www.bcnlb.com/overview.html}} By the time he was sixteen, Safra was working at his father's bank in Beirut, engaged in the precious metals and foreign exchange aspects of the business.

In 1949, the family moved from Lebanon to Italy, where he worked for a trading company in Milan. When Safra was 16, he earned $40 million during arbitrage transactions between Italian and British gold sovereigns. He used this money to obtain a financial house in Geneva, which became his Trade Development Bank, and used only ancient Arabic script for its bookkeeping.{{cite news |last=Brummer |first=Alex |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/dec/04/guardianobituaries.alexbrummer |title=Edmond Safra: Banker who kept his money in the family |work=The Guardian |date=3 December 1999 |access-date=1 April 2022}} The family moved to Brazil in 1952, where he and his father founded their first Brazilian financial institution in 1955.

In 1956, Safra settled in Geneva to set up a private bank, the Trade Development Bank, which grew from an original US$1 million to US$5 billion during the 1980s. He extended his financial empire to satisfy his wealthy clients from around the world. He also founded the Republic National Bank of New York in 1966, and later, Republic National Bank of New York (Suisse) in Geneva. The Republic Bank operated 80 branches in the New York area, making it the number three branch network in the metropolitan region behind Citigroup and Chase Manhattan.

Safra's banking interests served clients in Monaco, Luxembourg and Switzerland.{{cite news |last=Miller |first=Steven |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-09/walter-weiner-who-led-edmond-safra-s-republic-bank-dies-at-85 |title=Walter Weiner, Who Led Edmond Safra's Republic Bank, Dies at 85 |work=Bloomberg News |date=9 May 2016 |access-date=8 January 2021 |archive-date=10 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160510102521/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-09/walter-weiner-who-led-edmond-safra-s-republic-bank-dies-at-85}}

From 1980 until Safra's death, Walter Weiner was Safra's attorney, and CEO of Republic National Bank of New York until 1983, when he became its chairman.

The 1983 sale of Trade Development Bank to American Express for more than US$450 million proved contentious. The financier prevailed in a defamation lawsuit, winning a public apology from American Express for starting a smear campaign against him{{cite news| url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-28-fi-1108-story.html | work=The Los Angeles Times | title=Controversy at American Express | first=Victor F. | last=Zonana | date=28 April 1992}} and US$8 million in damages, all of which he donated to charities.{{Cite book|last=Burrough, Bryan, 1961–|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/27770148|title=Vendetta : American Express and the smearing of Edmond Safra|date=1992|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=0-00-215957-0|location=London|oclc=27770148}}{{cite news |last=Henry |first=Michel |url=https://www.liberation.fr/societe/0101301106-monaco-mort-suspecte-d-un-roi-de-la-finance-edmond-j-safra-est-decede-vendredi-dans-un-incendie/ |title=Monaco: mort suspecte d'un roi de la Finance. Edmond J. Safra est décédé vendredi dans un incendie. |trans-title=Monaco: suspicious death of a King of Finance. Edmond J. Safra died in a fire on Friday. |language=fr |work=Libération |date=4 December 1999 |access-date=17 July 2021 |archive-date=4 March 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100304005215/https://www.liberation.fr/societe/0101301106-monaco-mort-suspecte-d-un-roi-de-la-finance-edmond-j-safra-est-decede-vendredi-dans-un-incendie/}}

In 1988, he also founded Safra Republic Holdings S.A., a Luxembourg bank holding company.{{cite news |last=Weiss |first=Gary |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/1994-03-06/the-mystery-man-of-finance |title=The Mystery Man of Finance, Inside the World of Billionaire Banker Edmond Safra |work=Bloomberg News |date=7 March 1994 |access-date=17 July 2021 |archive-date=16 July 2019 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20190716040608/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/1994-03-06/the-mystery-man-of-finance |url-status=live }}

By the early 1990s, Safra's fortune was estimated at US$2.5 billion.

In 1996 Safra co-founded Hermitage Capital Management with Beny Steinmetz and Bill Browder.{{Cite book|title=Red notice : a true story of high finance, murder, and one man's fight for justice|last=Browder|first=Bill|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2015|isbn=9781476755717|location=New York|pages=84, 87|oclc=883146703}} The hedge fund became one of the most important investment companies in Russia, and later became famous in connection with the Sergei Magnitsky affair.

On 17 August 1998, Safra's Republic National Bank of New York lost 45% of its net income due to its large holding of Russian bonds after the 1998 Russian financial crisis.

In 1998, Safra's bank alerted the FBI and the Swiss justice about a possible money laundering scheme involving IMF money, the Republic National Bank of New York and the Republic National Bank of New York (Suisse), some other unidentified outlets, and Russian officials of both the Russian Ministry of Finance and the Russian Central Bank.{{cite news |last=Лурье |first=Олег (Lurie, Oleg) |author-link=:ru:Лурье, Олег Анатольевич |url=http://old.novayagazeta.ru/data/2000/52/00.html |title=Если Касьянов приедет в Швейцарию, его вызовут к следователю? |trans-title=If Kasyanov arrives in Switzerland, will he be summoned to the investigator? |language=ru |work=Novaya Gazeta |date=24 July 2000 |access-date=8 January 2021 |archive-date=2 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202222313/http://old.novayagazeta.ru/data/2000/52/00.html}}{{efn|In July 1998, Vladimir Putin travelled from Moscow to the south of France to conduct important meetings when he was named head of the FSB.{{cite news |last1=Crawford |first1=David |last2=Bensmann |first2=Marcus |url=https://correctiv.org/en/latest-stories/the-system-of-putin/2015/07/30/putins-early-years |title=Putin's early years |work=CORRECT!V |date=30 July 2015 |access-date=2 July 2021 |archive-date=10 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210710222921/https://correctiv.org/en/latest-stories/the-system-of-putin/2015/07/30/putins-early-years/ |url-status=dead }}}}{{efn|In 1998, Safra's Republic National Bank of New York was the preferred foreign bank through which most Russian banks had correspondent accounts and both Russian banks, including SBS-Agro ({{langx|ru|СБС-Агро}}), Menatep ({{langx|ru|Менатеп}}), Inkom ({{langx|ru|Инком}}), and United Bank ({{langx|ru|Объединенный банк}}), and the Russian Ministry of Finance transferred IMF loan money to foreign locations through Safra's Republic National Bank of New York.{{cite news |last=Лурье |first=Олег (Lurie, Oleg) |author-link=:ru:Олег Лурье Анатольевич |url=http://www.compromat.ru/imgup/converted_14133.jpg |title=Cxema Движения Кпедита МВФ В 4,8 МЛРД. ДОЛЛ. |trans-title=Scheme Transfer IMF Credits $4.8 billion |language=ru |work=Время новостей (Vremya Novostei) |date=3 March 2003 |access-date=17 July 2021 |archive-date=1 February 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210201085627/http://www.compromat.ru/imgup/converted_14133.jpg}}}} The IMF funds, which Italian newspaper la Repubblica estimated at $21.4 billion,{{cite news |url=https://jamestown.org/program/newspaper-scandal-over-imf-diversion-expands/ |title=NEWSPAPER SCANDAL OVER IMF DIVERSION EXPANDS. |work=Jamestown Foundation |date=25 July 2000 |access-date=8 January 2021}}{{cite news |url=http://www.compromat.ru/page_25494.htm |title=La Repubblica: Деньги МВФ были разворованы |trans-title=La Repubblica: IMF money was stolen |language=ru |work=la Repubblica |via=Lenta.ru |date=6 October 1999 |access-date=19 January 2021 }}{{cite news |last=Лурье |first=Олег (Lurie, Oleg) |author-link=:ru:Лурье, Олег Анатольевич |url=http://www.compromat.ru/page_10307.htm |title=Интервью Туровера. "Если я приеду, получу пулю в аэропорту." Крупнейшие финансовые структуры России времен Ельцина- это насосы для перекачки украденных миллиардов в карманы "семьи" и ее окружения |trans-title=Turover's interview. "If I come, I'll get a bullet at the airport." The largest financial structures in Russia during the Yeltsin era are pumps for pumping stolen billions into the pockets of the "family" and its entourage |language=ru |work=Novaya Gazeta |date=23 October 2000 |access-date=19 January 2021 }} are said to have caused the Russian financial crisis of 1998.{{cite news |last=Денисов |first=Андрей (Denisov, Andrei) |url=https://www.vremya.ru/2004/67/13/96662.html |title=Алексей Можин: Украсть деньги МВФ вообще невозможно |trans-title=Alexey Mozhin: Stealing IMF money is generally impossible |language=ru |work=Время новостей (Vremya Novostei) |date=19 April 2004 |access-date=19 January 2021 |archive-date=5 September 2004 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040905142340/http://www.vremya.ru/2004/67/13/96662.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Лурье |first=Олег (Lurie, Oleg) |author-link=:ru:Олег Лурье Анатольевич |url=http://www.compromat.ru/page_12850.htm |title=Украденные миллиарды: Исчезнувший кредит МВФ найден в швейцарских структурах Романа Абрамовича |trans-title=Stolen billions: Disappeared IMF loan found in Swiss structures of Roman Abramovich |language=ru |work=Время новостей (Vremya Novostei) |date=3 March 2003 |access-date=19 January 2021 }}{{efn|According to Oleg Lurie, after Boris Berezovsky, who was a Deputy Secretary of the Security Council and the owner of United Bank ({{langx|ru|Объединенный банк}}), a Russian bank involved in the scheme of stealing the IMF funds, tipped off Safra in early autumn 1999 that he would be killed because he had assisted prosecutors, Safra moved from his villa Leopold at Antibes to a very secure bunker in Monaco where he died in December 1999 when two armed masked men entered Safra's 1000 square meter apartment and set fire to it while Safra, his wife, daughter and others in it. Safra succoumbed to smoke inhalation during the blaze. In March 1998, Alexander Litvinenko had been ordered to kill Berezovsky.{{cite news |url=http://www.agentura.ru/timeline/1998/urpo/ |title=Березовский и УРПО / дело Литвиненко |trans-title=Berezovsky and URPO / Litvinenko case |language=ru |agency=Агентура (Agentura) |date= |access-date=8 January 2021 |archive-date=8 December 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061208212745/http://www.agentura.ru/timeline/1998/urpo/}}{{cite news |url=http://www.agentura.ru/text/press/1998/urpo3.txt |title=Березовский-письмо |trans-title=Berezovsky-letter |language=ru |work=Kommersant |date=13 November 1998 |access-date=8 January 2021 |archive-date=24 January 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070124041052/http://www.agentura.ru/text/press/1998/urpo3.txt}}{{cite news |last=Скакунов |first=Илья (Skakunov, Ilya) |url=http://www.agentura.ru/text/press/1998/urpo1.txt |title='Братки' с Лубянки ведут игру без правил: Оскандалившиеся контрразведчики уверены, что лучший способ обороны – нападение |trans-title='Brothers' from Lubyanka are playing a game without rules: Disgraced counterintelligence officers are sure that the best way of defense is attack |language=ru |work=Сегодня (Segodniya) |date=29 June 1998 |access-date=8 January 2021 |archive-date=3 May 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010503050256/http://www.agentura.ru/text/press/1998/urpo1.txt}} According to Safra's bodyguards, in the summer of 1999, Safra traveled to Moscow staying for several days during which he met several high-ranking Russian Ministry of Finance officials, Berezovsky, and Roman Abramovich.}}

As he approached his 60s, Safra divided his time between his homes in Monaco, Geneva, and New York City and the Villa Leopolda on the French Riviera. Weakened by Parkinson's disease, he required nursing care.{{cite news |last=Dunne |first=Dominick |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2000/12/dunne200012 |title=Death in Monaco |work=Vanity Fair |date=December 2000 |access-date=17 July 2021 |archive-date=1 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160301221519/https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2000/12/dunne200012}}[http://www.worldcorruption.info/eng/swissleaks-hsbc.htm "Swissleaks."] The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). [https://web.archive.org/web/20220929203749/http://www.worldcorruption.info/eng/swissleaks-hsbc.htm Archived] from the original on 29 September 2022.

In 1999, he sold his Safra Republic Holdings and Republic New York Corporation to HSBC for $10.3 billion in cash.{{cite news |url=https://www.thelocal.ch/20150209/billionaire-safra-key-to-hsbc-private-bank-origins |title=Swiss Leaks: Billionaire Safra key to HSBC Swiss bank origins |work=Thelocal.ch |date=9 February 2015 |access-date=8 January 2021 |archive-date=9 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209222515/https://www.thelocal.ch/20150209/billionaire-safra-key-to-hsbc-private-bank-origins}}{{Cite news |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/11/business/bank-group-to-buy-republic-new-york.html |title=Bank Group to Buy Republic New York |work=The New York Times |date=11 May 1999 |access-date=8 January 2021 |archive-date=22 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131222225138/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/11/business/bank-group-to-buy-republic-new-york.html}} On 31 December 1999, HSBC Private Bank became the new name for Safra's former holdings.{{cite web |url=https://www.privatebanking.hsbc.com/about-us/company-history/ |title=HSBC Private Bank: Company history |work=HSBC website |access-date=8 January 2021}}

{{expand section|date=March 2025}}

On 2 December 1999, Edmond and Lily Safra gained Monegasque citizenship. In 1976, Safra married Lily Watkins.

In December 1999, Safra and nurse Vivian Torrente were suffocated by fumes in a fire deliberately lit at the billionaire's Monaco home,{{cite web |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/23767683 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141114225932/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/23767683 |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 November 2014 |title=Billionaire's mysterious death in Monte Carlo – Dateline NBC – International |work=NBC News |date=23 March 2008 |access-date=26 February 2017 }}{{Cite news|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/id/23767683/ns/dateline_nbc-international/t/billionaires-mysterious-death-monte-carlo/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130315141041/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/23767683/ns/dateline_nbc-international/t/billionaires-mysterious-death-monte-carlo/|url-status=dead|archive-date=15 March 2013|title=Billionaire's mysterious death in Monte Carlo|date=23 March 2008|work=msnbc.com|access-date=2 July 2018|language=en}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20141114225932/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/23767683 The mystery of the billionaire banker], Dateline NBC, 23 March 2008. where he apparently felt so safe that he did not have his bodyguards stay the night.{{cite news| url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F05E2DE113EF934A35751C1A96F958260 | newspaper=The New York Times | first=Suzanne | last=Daley | title=Nurse Is Said to Admit Arson That Killed Banker in Monaco | date=7 December 1999}} On the night of the fire, Daniel Serdet, the attorney general and chief prosecutor of Monaco, stated that Samuel Cohen, Safra's personal security chief, stated that no security guards were needed.{{cite news |last=Trueheart |first=Charles |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPcap/1999-12/05/059r-120599-idx.html |title=Details Emerge in Banker's Killing: Safra Was Alive When Firefighters Arrived, Monaco's Prosecutor Says |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=5 December 1999 |access-date=17 July 2021}}

Safra's nurse Ted Maher was arrested{{cite web|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/murder-in-monaco-an-american-on-trial/ |title=Murder In Monaco: An American On Trial |work=CBS News |date=8 July 2003 |access-date=26 February 2017}} under suspicion of starting the fire in order to gain attention "through a daring rescue", and then losing control unintentionally.Monaco Tribunal Decision, December 2002. He was convicted of the crime and sentenced to 10 years in prison.{{cite news| url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/murder-in-monaco-an-american-on-trial/ | work=CBS News | title=Murder In Monaco: An American On Trial | date=8 July 2003}}

Safra left 50% of his assets to several charities.{{cite web|url=http://archives.bilan.ch/BI/BILAN/actualite/article-2002-12-42/dossier-finance-de-7-milliards-a-100-millions|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120709072419/http://archives.bilan.ch/BI/BILAN/actualite/article-2002-12-42/dossier-finance-de-7-milliards-a-100-millions|url-status=dead|title=Bilan > Dossier finance de 7 milliards à 100 millions|date=9 July 2012|archive-date=9 July 2012}}

Safra was a major philanthropist during his lifetime, and left his wealth to the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation, which supports hundreds of projects in fifty countries around the world in the areas of education, science, medicine, religion, culture and humanitarian assistance.{{cite web |url=https://www.edmondjsafra.org/files/dignity.pdf |title=Hope Opportunity Love Faith Inspiration Joy Dignity |work=Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation |date=2010 |access-date=17 July 2021 |archive-date=4 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210504012028/https://www.edmondjsafra.org/files/dignity.pdf}}

In April 1992, the Syrian regime dropped the travel restrictions on Jews. Safra, whose family had old ties with the city of Aleppo, offered to transfer 4,500 Syrian Jews by plane and financed their settling in Brooklyn.[https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/community/articles/sephardic-jews-take-manhattan Sephardic Jews Take Manhattan], Tablet Mag, 18 December 2012

Committed to his faith, Safra believed that constructing and renovating synagogues was important in places where there was a potential for a Jewish community to flourish, and synagogues around the world bearing his father's name testify to this commitment. Many of these were built in the world's major Jewish centers, but he also helped to build synagogues in more remote communities such as Manila and Kinshasa.

500 years after the last synagogue was built in Madrid he constructed a new one. He also helped to renovate and enlarge synagogues in Amsterdam, Istanbul, Naples, Budapest, Rhodes, and Vienna. Safra saved the oldest synagogue in France, in Clermont-Ferrand, from destruction by buying it for the community, and he contributed to the expansion of the Cannes synagogue and Synagogue Beth El in Paris.{{cite web|url=http://www.bethel-net.org/|title=bethel online|website=www.bethel-net.org}} He also helped refurbish synagogues in many small French cities including Évian, Annemasse, and others. Among the synagogues is the Edmond J. Safra Synagogue in New York City.

In addition to supporting a number of synagogues in Israel, the tombs of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness and Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai (2nd century CE) were especially important to him, and he was a generous supporter of these pilgrimage sites. For many years on Shavuot eve, the anniversary of his father's death, he would pray at the tomb of Rabbi Meir until dawn.

Many Jewish institutions and programs around the world bear his name.

During his lifetime, Safra donated millions of dollars to provide treatment for the sick. Hospitals across the globe – the Hôpital Cantonal de Genève, the Hôpitaux de France, and countless institutions in the United States, for example – benefited from his generosity. He was one of the founders of Albert Einstein Hospital in São Paulo, today one of South America's major medical centers. In Israel, he initiated the construction of the Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital at the Tel Hashomer hospital complex.

In the area of medical research, he was a significant supporter of the Institut Pasteur in Paris, the Weizmann Institute in Israel, the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research and a number of different centers studying specific diseases in France, the United States, and elsewhere around the world. He created the Edmond and Lily Safra Chair in Breast Cancer Research at Tulane University.{{cite web|url=http://www.ohr.tulane.edu/news/newwave/011508_cancer.cfm?RenderForPrint=1|title=Tulane University – Shedding New Light on Cancer Risk|website=www.ohr.tulane.edu}}{{Dead link|date=February 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

In the United States, the Safra Family Lodge, hosts families and patients who are having treatment at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda MD. https://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/familylodge/index.html

In France, the Edmond J. Safra Foundation financially supports Clinatec.{{cite web|url=http://www-leti.cea.fr/en/Discover-Leti/Innovation-platforms/Plateforme-Clinatec |title=Cea Leti – Clinatec / Innovation platforms / Discover Leti / Home |website=Leti.cea.fr |date= 19 October 2013|access-date=26 February 2017}}

Safra believed higher education was essential for every young person in the modern world, even though he himself never attended university. He provided university scholarship funds for tens of thousands of needy students through the International Sephardic Education Foundation (ISEF), an institution he and his wife established in 1977 to support deserving Israeli students.{{cite web|url=http://iseffoundation.org/programs/edmond-j-safra-scholarships/|title=Edmond J. Safra Scholars – ISEF Foundation – Israel Education – Israel Scholarships – Non-Profit – Israel and New York|website=iseffoundation.org}}

Safra also helped universities directly, often through the support of chairs and particular programs (such as Judaic Studies). For example, at Harvard University he endowed the Jacob E. Safra Professorship of Jewish History and Sephardic Civilization, and the Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics; and he gave significant funds for the Robert F. Kennedy Visiting Professorship in Latin American Studies.{{cite web|url=https://ro.drclas.harvard.edu/pages/robert-f-kennedy-visiting-professorship-latin-american-studies|title=RFK Visiting Professorship in Latin American Studies|access-date=3 October 2017|archive-date=3 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171003174451/https://ro.drclas.harvard.edu/pages/robert-f-kennedy-visiting-professorship-latin-american-studies|url-status=dead}} At the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business, he created the Jacob E. Safra Professorship of International Banking and the Safra Business Research Center.

Safra was awarded Honorary Doctorates by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Yeshiva University (New York) (where he established the Jacob E. Safra Institute of Sephardic Studies) for his ongoing support of those institutions.

With respect to younger children's education, Safra was especially devoted to schools in the cities where he lived – for example, he founded Ecole Girsa,{{cite web|url=http://www.alliancegirsa.ch/notre-histoire/|title=Ecole Alliance Girsa – Ecole juive Genève – Membre de l'Alliance Universelle Israélite}} Geneva's first and largest Jewish school. He took great pride in founding the Beit Yaacov school in Bat Yam. He was also one of the world's most significant benefactors of yeshivot (religious schools training young men to be rabbis, Jewish teachers, and judges), assisting numerous institutions worldwide.Aleppo: City of Scholars, the Jack Adjmi edition, Rabbi David Sutton, 2005.

• Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et Lettres and Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by the French government.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}
• Commander of the Order of Merit of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg,[https://gouvernement.lu/dam-assets/fr/publications/rapport-activite/minist-etat/1999-rapport-activite-etat/1999-rapport-activite-etat.pdf Rapport d'activité de l'Etat, Gouvernement de Jean-Claude Junkcker], Gouvernement du Luxembourg, 1999.
• Commander of the Order of Rio Branco by the government of Brazil.{{Citation needed|date=September 2009}}

• Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics
• Clinatec
• Grand Théâtre de Genève
• Courtauld Institute of Art

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em|refs=

{{cite web|url=http://www.edmondjsafra.org/ |title=Edmond J. Safra Foundation – Home |website=Edmondjsafra.org |date=16 June 2016 |access-date=26 February 2017}}

}}

• Daniel Gross, A Banker's Journey: How Edmond J. Safra Built a Global Financial Empire, New York: Radius, 2022. {{ISBN|978-1635767858}}.
• Bryan Burrough, Vendetta: American Express and the Smearing of Edmond Safra, New York: HarperCollins, 1992. {{ISBN|0-06-016759-9}}.

• [http://www.edmondjsafra.org/ Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20030219093952/http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/05/48hours/main539432.shtml CBS News 48 Hours Mystery Murder in Monaco]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20051201102432/http://www.courttv.com/trials/monaco/ Extensive Court TV coverage of Safra's death]
• [http://www.safrashul.com/ Safra Synagogue Directory]

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