Ya'akov Shamai

Ya'akov Shamai was born in 1940 in Jerusalem

Shamai was born in Jerusalem on 22 May 1940, during the Mandate era. After high school he served in the IDF from 1958 to 1961, and then worked in agriculture.

He began his public work in the Histadrut as a member of the Herut movement's Tchelet Lavan faction. From 1982 he headed the Likud faction in the Histadrut. He later held several Histadrut posts, including deputy chairman from 1998, head of human resources from 1998 to 2002 and chairman of the Amal network from 2002 to 2008.

He ran on the Likud list in 1984 but did not win a seat. He entered the Knesset on 5 February 1985 in place of Yitzhak Seiger, who had died, and was re-elected in 1988 and 1992. He sat on the Finance Committee and the Labor and Welfare Committee, and lost his seat in the 1996 elections.

From 1997 to 1999 he was a board member of the Israel Electric Corporation. He was married to Miriam, and they had 3 daughters. He died on 4 October 2016 and was buried in Givat Ada.