Bruce Rappaport

Bruce Rappaport was born in 1922 in Haifa

Baruch "Bruce" Rappaport was born in Haifa in 1922. His parents came from Ukraine in 1919. His father, Issachar, was one of the founders of the Nesher cement plant.

He served in the British army, the Haganah and the IDF, and helped found the military police. He qualified as a lawyer in 1953 and worked as a military judge.

In 1957 he moved with his family to Switzerland and based his business in Geneva. He started a ship supply company that grew into ship chartering, oil transport and banking, with oil refineries in Belgium and Antigua. In 1983 he formed Swiss American Bank in Antigua, which US authorities later accused of money laundering.

His name was linked to the Guns for Antigua affair, in which Israeli weapons reached a Colombian drug cartel. In 1997 he became Antigua and Barbuda's ambassador to Russia, and in 2005 he sold his bank to Bank Hapoalim. He funded the Technion medical school building and the Rappaport research institute.

He died in 2010 and was buried in Geneva. He was married to Ruth, and they had 4 daughters.