Ted Arison - Biography

Ted Arison (February 24, 1924 — October 1, 1999) was an Israeli-American businessman who co-founded Norwegian Cruise Lines in 1966 with Knut Kloster and founded Carnival Cruise Lines in 1972.

Born in Tel Aviv as Theodore Arisohn in the then British Mandate of Palestine, he was a third-generation Israeli of Romanian descent, who studied commerce and economics at the American University of Beirut. He fought in the Jewish Brigade of the British Army during World War II. He moved to the United States in the early 1950s and created Carnival Cruise Lines in 1972 in which he made his fortune.

Later, he established the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts based in Miami. He brought professional basketball to South Florida with the forming of the Miami Heat in 1988, and established the philanthropic Arison Foundation in Israel and the United States.

In 1990, he renounced his U.S. citizenship, in an effort to avoid Estate tax in the United States and returned to Israel and founded Arison Investments. In 1997 he headed a consortium that purchased the controlling share in Bank Hapoalim for more than $1 billion, the largest privatization deal in Israel's history. His children include Micky Arison and Shari Arison.

However, at the time of his death in 1999, Ted Arison failed by approximately 9 months to meet the requirement of being outside of United States territory for 10 years for the tax benefits of his renunciation of U.S. citizenship to be realized.

See also

• Arison family

Source