Selim Zilkha

Selim Zilkha (born 1927) is an Iraqi-born British entrepreneur, who founded Mothercare, one of the UK's largest retail chains.

Selim Zilkha
Born1927 (age 92–93)
Baghdad, Iraq
Alma materWilliams College
Occupationentrepreneur
Known forfounder, Mothercare
Net worthUS$700 million (2001)[1]
Spouse(s)Diane Bashi (divorced)
Children2, including Michael Zilkha
Parent(s)Khedouri Zilkha
RelativesEzra Zilkha (brother)
Abdullah Zilkha (brother)
Maurice Zilkha (brother)

Early life

Zilkha was born in 1927[2] in Baghdad to an Iraqi Jewish family, the son of the banker Khedouri Zilkha,[3] Zilkha was raised in Lebanon, Egypt and the United States, Selim Zilkha was educated at the Horace Mann School in New York City and Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.[4] He served in the US Army during World War II.[4]

Career

Zilkha worked in finance in the family firm Zilkha & Sons from 1947 to 1960.[4]

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.[4]

In 1982, he invested $28 million in Towner Petroleum[5] and in 1998, he sold his investment for $1 billion.[6]

In 2001, his net worth was estimated at US$700 million.[1]

In 2002, he donated $20 million to complete a Neurogenetic Institute in Los Angeles.[4]

He is currently 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., San Luis Obispo, California until 2019.[8]

Personal life

He married Diane Bashi, 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]

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References
  1. 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.
  2. Biography at Laetitia Vineyard website
  3. Forbes: "From Baghdad to Bel Air" by Phyllis Berman February 23, 1998
  4. Los Angeles Businessman Selim Zilkha Pledges $20 million to USC's Neurogenetic Institute USC News, 30 July 2002
  5. A wildcatter on the tame side replacing roughnecks with computers New York Times, 20 March 1998
  6. Sunday Times Rich List The Times, 1 March 2009
  7. Zilkha: Our Owners: Selim K. Zilkha Archived 2012-01-08 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Selim Zilkha Businessweek
  9. "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.
  10. "Salim Zilkha (Living, Male) & Diane Bashi (Living, Female)". www.farhi.org. Retrieved 2018-07-29.


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