Lily Safra

Lily Safra
Lily Safra
Born	Lily Watkins; 30 December 1934 (age 91); Porto Alegre, Brazil
Died	9 July 2022 (aged 87); Geneva, Switzerland
Other names	Cohen, Monteverde, Bendahan
Occupation(s)	Socialite, philanthropist, art collector
Known for	Philanthropy, art collection, Villa Leopolda proprietor

Lily Safra (born Watkins; also known as Cohen, Monteverde, and Bendahan; 30 December 1934 – 9 July 2022) was a billionaire socialite of Brazilian and Monegasque nationality who accumulated considerable wealth through four marriages. She was the proprietor of an esteemed art collection and the renowned Villa Leopolda located on the French Riviera. Her fortune was approximated at $1.3 billion. After her marriage to banker Edmond Safra, she became actively engaged in philanthropic endeavors, continuing their foundation’s mission following his passing in 1999.

Biography

Lily Watkins entered the world on 30 December 1934 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Her father, Wolf White Watkins, was an Anglo-Jewish railway engineer originally from Czechoslovakia, while her mother, Annita Noudelman de Castro, descended from Russian Jewish roots. She spent her formative years in Rio de Janeiro before relocating to Montevideo, Uruguay.

At age 17, she wed Mario Cohen, an Argentine industrialist in hosiery with Italian Jewish heritage; the couple had three children before divorcing in the early 1960s. In 1965, she married Alfredo Monteverde (formerly Greenberg), a Romanian Jewish immigrant who was a prominent figure in Brazil’s household appliance market and founder of the Ponto Frio brand. Following Monteverde’s suicide in 1969, Safra moved to London. Banker Edmond Safra assisted her in securing control over Monteverde’s estate. Although she briefly dated Edmond Safra, family opposition ended their relationship at that time.

In 1972, she married Samuel Bendahan, a Sephardic Jew with limited financial means; their union lasted only two weeks before separation and finalized divorce a year later. Four years later, in 1976, she married Edmond Safra, the Syrian Jewish founder of the Republic National Bank of New York. The couple maintained residences in New York City, Monaco, Geneva, and at Villa Leopolda.

On 2 December 1999, both Lily and Edmond Safra acquired Monegasque citizenship. Edmond tragically died on 3 December 1999 in a fire caused by arson at his Monaco residence—a high-profile incident given his prominence and wealth. Ted Maher, a former U.S. Green Beret, was convicted for igniting the blaze as part of a scheme to gain Safra’s confidence; he received a ten-year prison sentence.

Edmond Safra left half of his estate to charitable causes; the remainder was divided between family members and Lily, who inherited $800 million.

Lily Safra’s legal representatives contested Lady Colin Campbell’s novel Empress Bianca (2005) on grounds of defamation; as a result, the UK publisher withdrew the book and destroyed unsold copies. A revised version was subsequently released in the United States.

Lily Safra passed away due to pancreatic cancer in Geneva on 9 July 2022 at age 87.

Philanthropy and art collection

Safra was a benefactor to multiple foundations and charitable organizations. In 1977, alongside her husband Edmond Safra and Nina Weiner, she co-founded the International Sephardic Education Foundation. She led the Edmond J. Safra Foundation, which supports medical research initiatives and humanitarian aid projects. At Harvard, her donation exceeding $12 million in 2010 established the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics—a multidisciplinary research facility focusing on institutional corruption. In 2011, part of her predominantly handcrafted art collection was sold at auction by Sotheby's. The following year, she gifted Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild 849-3 (1997) to the Israel Museum in Edmond Safra’s memory; several artworks are now displayed within the museum’s Edmond and Lily Safra Fine Arts Wing. Numerous contributions were funded through sales of items from her extensive art holdings. In 2012, she auctioned seventy pieces of jewelry—including a notable 34.05-carat diamond ring—with proceeds benefiting twenty charitable organizations, among them one dedicated to supporting impoverished children in Rwanda.

Emergency relief

Safra contributed to the American Red Cross and provided assistance to those affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Through the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation, she played a key role in founding the Edmond J. Safra Brain Research Center for Learning Disabilities at the University of Haifa. After Sotheby's auctioned her furniture and artwork in 2005, she allocated $3 million to various New York-based charities and to Dillard University to support Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts. Sotheby's also conducted a 2011 auction featuring collections from both Mr. and Mrs. Safra in New York City.

In May 2012, Safra organized a notable auction at Geneva's Christie's, presenting 70 items from her personal jewelry assortment. The Jewels for Hope event showcased 18 pieces by JAR, representing the most extensive private collection by this jeweler ever offered publicly. All proceeds benefited 32 international charitable organizations dedicated to healthcare, education, religion, and cultural initiatives, including the Elton John AIDS Foundation and Hope and Homes for Children in Romania.

Religion

Safra guaranteed the completion of the Edmond J. Safra Synagogue located in Manhattan.

Research on healthcare

In recognition of her sustained support, Safra was honored with the Elton John AIDS Foundation's "An Enduring Vision" award in 2009 and subsequently donated $1 million to its grant programs in 2013. That same year, she contributed $16 million to the Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital in Tel HaShomer as well as $5 million toward the One Laptop Per Child initiative.

She founded the Edmond J. Safra Family Lodge at the National Institutes of Health near Washington, D.C., offering support for patients and their families. In 2010, she made a donation of €8 million to the Institute for Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries in Paris.

The Edmond J. Safra Foundation was instrumental in establishing both the Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences at Hebrew University and the Edmond J. Safra Centers for Bioinformatics and Ethics at Tel Aviv University.

Safra participated on the board of directors for the Michael J. Fox Foundation focused on Parkinson's disease research. In 2020, this foundation introduced The Edmond J. Safra Humanitarian Award to recognize her philanthropic contributions. Under her leadership of The Edmond J. Safra Foundation, she directed funding toward projects such as the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative and The Edmond J. Safra Fellowship in Movement Disorders.

In 2009, she committed €7 million to the Claude Pompidou Foundation for building the Claude Pompidou Institute dedicated to Alzheimer's research in Nice, France; this institute opened its doors in 2014.

Additionally, Safra was a Patron of Hope and Homes for Children in the UK and actively supported its programs in Romania.

Arts and culture

Safra held membership on the Chairman's Council of the Museum of Modern Art.

On 3 February 2010, during an auction in London, she purchased L'Homme qui marche I, a life-sized bronze sculpture by Alberto Giacometti, for £65 million (equivalent to US$104.3 million). This acquisition ranked among the priciest art pieces ever sold at auction and set a record as the most expensive sculpture sold publicly.

In April 2019, Safra pledged €10 million toward restoration efforts following the catastrophic fire at Notre-Dame de Paris.

Honours

Awarded the rank of Officier in the Légion d'honneur (2011)
Bestowed the title of Commandeur in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Recognized as an Honorary Fellow by King's College London
Served as Honorary Chair of the International Sephardic Education Foundation (ISEF)
Received honorary doctorates from Haifa University, Imperial College London, Tel Aviv University, Brandeis University, and Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (2018)
Designated Honorary Fellow at The Courtauld Institute of Art

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