ASF Monthly – Medieval Hispano-Hebrew Poets & Their Modern Alchemists

In Memory of Ezra K. Zilkha, A”H, a well-respected and renowned financier with tremendous geopolitical savvy, philanthropist, and scion of an illustrious Babylonian Jewish family that pioneered international banking and commerce. New York became a lesser place with his passing. He was uniquely and highly respected, beloved and well-known in so many circles, including business, politics, the arts, and for the disabled. The Zilkha family patriarch, Khedouri Zilkha, arrived to NYC in 1941, fleeing the possible arrival of Rommel into Cairo; he had been a target for the Nazis. Ezra was 16 when he came to NYC with his parents. After WWII the Zilkha Bank established its headquarters in NYC ahead of the expropriation of its branches in Iraq, Syria, and Egypt by Arab nationalist regimes. Ezra Zilkha, while lifetime head of Zilkha and Sons, also served on the boards of many leading companies (CIGNA, Handy & Harmon) and became a generous benefactor of many important institutions, including Princeton University (where he established the Khedouri A. Zilkha Professorship of Jewish Civilization in the Near East), Wesleyan University (which houses the Zilkha Gallery), Shearith Israel: The Spanish & Portuguese Synagogue, and The American Sephardi Federation. He was a trustee of The International Center for the Disabled, The American Society of the French Legion of Honor, a trustee emeritus of Wesleyan University, and an honorary trustee of the Brookings Institution. He was also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.  Ezra Zilkha is the author (with Ken Emerson) of From Baghdad to the Board Room: My Family’s Odyssey and was interviewed by Tamar Morad as part of her book with Robert and Dennis Shasha on Iraq’s Last Jews: Stories of Daily Life, Upheaval, and Escape from Modern Babylon (the interview can be listened to here). His wife of 67 years, the former Cecile Iny, A”H, passed in 2017. Mr. Zilkha passed away quietly at his home in NYC on 2 October 2019 at the age of 94. They are greatly missed by so many dear friends here in the U.S. and in Europe. They are survived by three children as well as a large and loving family.