Ted Arison Biography

Ted Arison (24 February 1924 "? 1 October 1999) was an Israeli businessman who co-founded Norwegian Cruise Lines in 1966 with Knut Kloster and founded Carnival Cruise Lines in 1972.

Early years

Arison was born Theodore Arisohn in Tel Aviv (in the then British Mandate of Palestine) to Meir Arisohn, a multi-millionaire owner of Meir Dizengoff and Company, and Vera Arisohn. Arison was a third-generation Israeli of Romanian descent. He studied commerce and economics at the American University of Beirut. and fought as a member of the Jewish Brigade of the British Army during World War II. After the British departure he later served as an officer in the IDF during Israel's War of Independence, eventually achieving the rank of Lieutenant colonel. From 1946 to 1951 he was manager of Meir Dizengoff and Company, a shipping company founded by Meir Dizengoff and acquired by his family from Dizengoff.

Move to American and new business venture

Frustrated by the lack of business opportunities, Arison wrapped up his business and moved to the United States after 1952. Arison took his family to New York in 1954 and moved to Miami, Florida in 1966. He created Carnival Cruise Lines in 1972 in which he made his fortune.

Later, he established the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts based in Miami. He brought professional basketball to South Florida with the forming of the Miami Heat in 1988, and established the philanthropic Arison Foundation in Israel and the United States.

Return to Israel

In 1990, he renounced his U.S. citizenship, in an effort to avoid estate tax in the United States and returned to Israel and founded Arison Investments. In 1997 he headed a consortium that purchased the controlling share in Bank Hapoalim for more than $1 billion, the largest privatization in Israel's history. His children include Micky Arison and Shari Arison.

Death

At the time of his death in 1999, Ted Arison failed by approximately 9 months to meet the requirement of being outside of United States territory for 10 years for the tax benefits of his renunciation of U.S. citizenship to be realized.

See also

• Arison family