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.
1939Dec, 21
Wafic Saïd
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Events on 1939
- 3Mar
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
In Bombay, Mohandas Gandhi begins a hunger strike in protest at the autocratic rule in British India. - 1Apr
Francisco Franco
Spanish Civil War: Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrender. - 6Sep
Nazi Germany
World War II: South Africa declares war on Nazi Germany. - 14Dec
Soviet Union
Winter War: The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for invading Finland. - 24Dec
Pope Pius XII
World War II: Pope Pius XII makes a Christmas Eve appeal for peace.