Wellesley Aron

Major Wellesley Aron, (1901–1988), was born in England but lived most of his life in British Mandated Palestine and then Israel.

His obituary by Philip Gillon in The Jerusalem Post sums it up. "Wellesley Aron, who died a week ago, a few days before his 87th birthday, could have been typecast for one of those BBC films about idealistic English upper class officers and gentlemen who espouse what appears to be hopeless causes and convert them into practical successes, in defiance of prejudices and huge obstacles. Physically, he looked the part, with his ramrod-straight back and his major's moustache; educated at Cambridge, he also talked Nancy Mitford's U-language. Wellesley could be summed up in one word - integrity.",

Wellesley founded Habonim, which became the largest Zionist Youth movement world-wide; commanded a unit in the British Army in World War II; rescued refugees fleeing The Holocaust and organized Machal (volunteers for Israel) in the United States. He was also a successful internationally known businessman; the creator and teacher of courses on peace for school children; a pioneer in establishing Rotary International in Israel and, finally, in his late years, a founder of the Arab/Jewish community of Neve Shalom – Wāħat as-Salām, where he died in 1988.

Wellesley Aron's first wife died in 1978. They had two children, Sharona and Ylona. In 1981 he married Coral Benjamin.

Born in London on 18 June 1901, he was the only child of a German Jewish mother but the fifth child of a German Jewish father. His half-siblings were all raised in their mother's Christian faith. Jewish religious observance was almost non-existent in his mother's home according to Wellesley.

During World War I the family lived for a time in Germany before moving to Switzerland. His half-brother and a cousin died during the war, which he believed led to his father's death shortly after. At the end of the war, Wellesley and his mother returned to London.

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