Ted Arison

Ted Arison was born in 1924 in Zichron Yaakov

Ted Arison was born in 1924 to Meir and Vera Arison. His father was a businessman involved in shipping. He graduated from the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium in Tel Aviv and then studied at the American University of Beirut.

During World War II he joined the British Army and fought with the Jewish Brigade. In the 1948 war he served as an officer in the IDF and left with the rank of lieutenant colonel. That same year he married Mina Wasserman.

In the early 1950s he left Israel for the United States and entered the shipping business. In 1972 he founded Carnival Cruise Lines with Meshulam Riklis. He also set up the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and founded the Miami Heat in 1988.

He gave up his U.S. citizenship to avoid American estate tax and returned to Israel, where he founded Arison Investments in 1991. In 1997 the company bought control of Bank Hapoalim from the state. He died on 1 October 1999 and was buried in Kiryat Shaul cemetery in Tel Aviv.