Arcadi Gaydamak
| Arcadi Gaydamak | |
|---|---|
Arcadi Gaydamak, May 2008.
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|
| Born |
8 April 1952 (age 64) Moscow, USSR |
| Residence | Canada, Russia, Israel |
| Citizenship |
 Soviet Union Israel France Canada Angola
|
| Occupation | businessman |
| Spouse(s) | Irene Chirolenikova |
| Children | Alexander, Katia and Sonia |
Arcadi Aleksandrovich Gaydamak (Hebrew: ארקדי אלכסנדרוביץ' גאידמק; Russian: Аркадий Александрович Гайдамак; born 8 April 1952 in Moscow, USSR) is a Russian-born businessman philanthropist and President of the Congress of Jewish Religious Communities and Organizations of Russia (KEROOR). He was awarded the Ordre National du Mérite and the Ordre du Mérite agricole.
Arcadi Gaydamak was born in 1952 in Moscow, the capital of the USSR. At the age of 20, Gaydamak was one of the first Jews to emigrate to Israel from Leonid Brezhnev's Soviet Union and receive Israeli citizenship. He lived on Kibbutz Beit HaShita, and studied Hebrew at an ulpan. He said he originally intended to serve in the Israeli Army, but ended up moving to France, where he opened a translation bureau. In 1982, Gaydamak Translations opened a branch in Canada. During that period he commenced international business, in import and export. After the collapse of the USSR, he built up ties in Russia and Kazakhstan and formed various business organizations across Europe.
Gaydamak won two citations from the French government: Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite and the Ordre du Mérite agricole for helping to rescue two captured French pilots in the War in Bosnia in the 1990s, as well as two French intelligence officers captured by rebel factions in the Caucasus. Because these operations were secret, the citations spoke of his contribution to agriculture. Former French interior minister Charles Pasqua confirmed this, saying that then-president Jacques Chirac had personally authorized the citations.
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