Selim Zilkha

Zilkha was born in 1927{{Cite web |url=http://www.laetitiawine.com/bio-sz.php |title=Biography at Laetitia Vineyard website |access-date=2011-06-19 |archive-date=2014-06-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610021554/http://www.laetitiawine.com/bio-sz.php |url-status=dead }} in Baghdad to an Iraqi Jewish family, the son of the banker Khedouri Zilkha,Phyllis Berman, [https://www.forbes.com/forbes/1998/0223/6104046b.html "From Baghdad to Bel Air"], Forbes, 23 February 1998 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.[http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/8241.html "Los Angeles Businessman Selim Zilkha Pledges $20 million to USC's Neurogenetic Institute"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303204238/http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/8241.html |date=2016-03-03 }}, USC News, 30 July 2002 He was in the US Army during the Second World War.

Zilkha worked in finance in the family firm, Zilkha & Sons, from 1947 to 1960.

Zilkha then moved to the UK, where he, together with Clinical Industries Limited, bought dispensing chemist Lewis & Burrows from Mappin and Webb.{{cite news|newspaper=The Times|date=16 March 1960|page=22|title=Lewis & Burrows minority holdings bid}} In 1961, 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.

In 1982, he invested $28 million in Towner Petroleum{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/20/business/a-wildcatter-on-the-tame-side-replacing-roughnecks-with-computers.html?pagewanted=all |title=A wildcatter on the tame side replacing roughnecks with computers|work=The New York Times|date=20 March 1998|url-access=subscription}} and, in 1998, he sold his investment for $1 billion.{{cite news|url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/specials/rich_list/article5817180.ece |title=Selim Zilkha (USA)|work=The Sunday Times|date=1 March 2009|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612145902/http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/specials/rich_list/article5817180.ece|archivedate=12 June 2011|accessdate =14 May 2022}}

In 2001, his net worth was estimated at US$700 million.{{cite book|author1=Peter W. Bernstein|author2=Annalyn Swan|title=All the Money in the World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQ4KnsyVQh8C&pg=PA360|accessdate=24 November 2015|date=2 December 2008|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-307-26770-2|page=360|via=Google Books}}

In 2002, he donated $20 million to complete a Neurogenetic Institute in Los Angeles.{{Cite web |last=Trinidad |first=Alison |date=December 13, 2013 |title=L.A. benefactor pledges $5M to Alzheimer’s research at USC |url=https://hscnews.usc.edu/archives/pdf13/1932.pdf |access-date=June 7, 2024 |website=theweekly.usc.edu}}

In 2010, he became the co-owner of Zilkha Biomass Energy, which owns timberland and which makes pellet biofuel in Texas.{{cite web|url=http://www.zilkha.com/about-us/our-owners/selim-k-zilkha/ |title=Our Owners: Selim K. Zilkha|publisher=Zilkha Biomass Energy|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120108042059/http://www.zilkha.com/about-us/our-owners/selim-k-zilkha/ |archivedate=8 January 2012}}

In 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Southern California.{{Cite web |title=Past Recipients – Honorary Degrees |url=https://honorarydegrees.usc.edu/past-recipients/ |access-date=2024-06-07 |website=honorarydegrees.usc.edu}}

He was also the co-owner of Laetitia Vineyard & Winery, Inc. in San Luis Obispo, California, until 2019.{{cite web|url=http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=643412&privcapId=41865938&previousCapId=41865938&previousTitle=Zilkha%20Biomass%20Energy,%20LLC |title=Company Overview of Zilkha Biomass Energy, LLC|website=Bloomberg Business|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307214600/http://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/person.asp?personId=643412&privcapId=41865938&previousCapId=41865938&previousTitle=Zilkha%2520Biomass%2520Energy,%2520LLC|archivedate=7 March 2016|accessdate=14 May 2022}}

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).{{cite web|title=Stock Photo - Mar. 15, 1962 - LABOUR MP MARRIES IRAQI HEIRESS: Harold Lever, 48, Labour MP for Manchester's Cheatham, Division, today married|url=http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-mar-15-1962-labour-mp-marries-iraqi-heiress-harold-lever-48-labour-69398430.html|publisher=Alamy|accessdate=24 November 2015}}

They had a son, Michael Zilkha, the co-founder of ZE Records, and a daughter, Nadia Zilkha.{{Cite web|url=http://www.farhi.org/wc20/wc20_431.htm|title=Salim Zilkha (Living, Male) & Diane Bashi (Living, Female)|website=Fleurs de l'Orient|access-date=29 July 2018}}

Zilkha died on 16 September 2022.{{cite web|url=https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/los-angeles-ca/selim-zilkha-10930935|title=Obituary: Selim Khedouri Zilkha|publisher=Dignity Memorial|access-date=14 April 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://hscnews.usc.edu/in-memoriam-selim-zilkha-co-founder-of-the-zilkha-neurogenetic-institute|title=In memoriam: Selim Zilkha, co-founder of the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute|date=24 October 2022 |publisher=University of South Carolina|access-date=14 April 2023}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zilkha, Selim}}

Category:1927 births

Category:2022 deaths

Category:Businesspeople from Baghdad

Category:Williams College alumni

Category:Iraqi Jews

Category:Iraqi emigrants to the United States

Category:American people of Iraqi-Jewish descent

Selim

Category:20th-century American businesspeople

{{US-business-bio-1920s-stub}}