Maurice Tempelsman
| Maurice Tempelsman | |
|---|---|
Maurice Tempelsman in December 2012
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| Born |
August 29, 1929 Antwerp, Belgium |
| Nationality | Belgian-American |
| Alma mater | New York University |
| Occupation | Businessman, diamond merchant |
| Spouse(s) | Lilly Bucholz (m. 1949) (separated) |
| Partner(s) | Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1980–1994) |
| Children | 3 |
Maurice Tempelsman (born August 26, 1929) is a Belgian-American businessman and diamond merchant. He was the longtime companion of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, former First Lady of the United States, and they were born only a month apart.
Tempelsman was born on August 26, 1929 in Antwerp, Belgium, the son of Leon and Helene Tempelsman, both Orthodox Jews, in a Yiddish-speaking family in Antwerp’s Jewish community. In 1940, Tempelsman and his family emigrated to the United States to escape persecution by Nazi Germany during World War II. When he was 16, Tempelsman began working for his father, a diamond broker. He attended New York City’s public schools and New York University.
In 1950 he created a new marketing niche by persuading the US-government to stockpile African diamonds for industrial and military purposes, with him as middleman, and in 1957, at the age of 27, he and his lawyer, Adlai Stevenson, traveled to Africa, where Tempelsman had begun forging ties with leaders. His contacts eventually ranged from South African anti-apartheid politician Oliver Tambo to Zaire's dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko and the influential Oppenheimer diamond family. Tempelsman is chairman of the board of directors of Lazare Kaplan International Inc. (LKI), the largest diamond company in the United States, noted for its "ideal cut" diamonds sold worldwide under the brand name, Lazare Diamonds. Tempelsman is one of fewer than 90 ″sightholders″ in the world, which means that 10 times a year he is permitted to buy diamonds directly from the powerful De Beers cartel in the City of London. Because DeBeers was a virtual monopoly, for many years it could not operate legally in the United States.
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