Teddy Kollek

Teddy Kollek was born in 1911 in Nagyvázsony

Teddy Kollek was born in 1911 in Nagyvázsony, Hungary, and was named after Theodor Herzl. His family moved to Vienna in 1918, where he came to share his father's Zionist views. He immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1935 and helped found Kibbutz Ein Gev in 1937, the year he married Tamar Schwarz.

In the 1940s he worked in intelligence for the Jewish Agency and served as its contact with British MI5 during the Saison against the Irgun and Lehi. From 1947 he led a Haganah mission in the United States to obtain arms. He later helped build ties between Israeli and American intelligence and warned the CIA about Kim Philby.

From 1952 to 1964 he was director general of the Prime Minister's Office under David Ben-Gurion. In 1965 he was elected mayor of Jerusalem and became mayor of the united city after the 1967 Six-Day War. He founded the Jerusalem Foundation, led the Israel Museum and lost the 1993 election to Ehud Olmert.

In retirement he kept working and lived in a retirement home in Jerusalem. He died on 2 January 2007 and was buried on Mount Herzl after a state funeral.