Wafic Saïd, Syrian-Saudi Arabian financier, businessman and philanthropist
Wafic Rida Saïd (Arabic: وفيق رضا سعيد) (born 21 December 1939) is a Syrian-Saudi-Canadian financier, businessman, and philanthropist, who has resided for many years in Monaco.Saïd lived in Syria until his early twenties before he left Syria for Switzerland where he worked as a banker, before making his fortune in the Saudi Arabian construction industry in the 1970s. Saïd came to public prominence after helping facilitate the Al-Yamamah arms deal between the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia in the 1980s. He established the Saïd Foundation in 1982 and the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford in 1996 with an initial £20 million donation to the University. Saïd owns several properties worldwide, including Tusmore Park in Oxfordshire, but is officially a resident of Monaco.
Saïd is a Foundation Fellow of Somerville College, Oxford.