Shimon Peres Is Dead

ORIGIN
Shimon Peres was a Polish-born Israeli politician. He served as the 9th president of Israel. He also served two terms as the country’s prime minister. Peres was born Szymon Perski on August 2, 1923 in Wieniawa, Poland. His parents were Sara and Yitzhak Perski. He had a brother named Gershon. Peres attended Geula High School for Commerce followed by Ben Shemen agricultural school. He later studied at The New School, New York University, and Harvard University. He was fluent in English, French, and Hebrew.

CAREER
Peres was named Director-General of Israel’s Ministry of Defense in 1953. He helped to boost the country’s military power by securing fighter jets, weapons, and nuclear power. He was also heavily involved in the 1956 Suez War. Peres began his political career in 1959 when he was elected to the Knesset as a member of the Mapai party. He later represented the parties: Rafi, Alignment, Labor, and Kadima. Peres served as Minister of Transportation from 1970 to 1974. He served two terms as Minister of Defence from 1974-1977 and from 1995-1996. He was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for the Oslo Accords. The other recipients were Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat.

Peres served as acting prime minister for two months in 1997 when Yitzhak Rabin stepped down. He was officially elected as the 8th Prime Minister of Israel in 1984. He served a second term from 1995 to 1996. Peres succeeded Moshe Katsav as the 9th President of Israel. He served a 7-year presidential term from 2007 until his retirement in 2014. Peres was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in June 2012.

PERSONAL
Shimon Peres died on September 28, 2016, at the age of 93. His reported cause of death was complications from a stroke. Peres suffered a massive stroke on September 13th followed by irreversible brain damage and organ failure on September 27th. He was hospitalized at the Sheba Medical Center in Tel Aviv at the time of his death. Peres was 5ft 8in tall and had a net worth of $10 million. He was married to ‘Sonya Gelman’ from 1945 until her death in 2011. They had three children, Zvia, Yoni, and Chemi.

Shimon Peres Bio, Net Worth, Height