ries
Obituaries from page C35
President Ephraim Katzir, 93
He and his brother, Aharon, developed
Jerusalem/JTA — Israel's fourth president, new types of explosives to supplement
Ephraim Katzir, who accepted Prime
the Jewish paramilitary Haganah's stock-
Minister Golda Meir's resignation after the pile. Following the War of Independence,
Yom Kippur War, died.
he joined the newly founded Weizmann
President Katzir, an internationally
Institute.
renowned biophysicist, died
President Katzir was
May 30, 2009, at 93.
awarded the Israel Prize
President Katzir served
in 1959 and received the
as president from 1973, the
Japan Prize in 1985. In
time of Yom Kippur War, to
1996, the former presi-
1978, shortly after Egyptian
dent was selected as the
President Anwar Sadat
first Israeli to be invited
visited Israel and Prime
to join the American
Minister Menachem Begin.
Academy of Sciences. He
He returned to his beloved
also won the Weizmann
scientific work after his term
Prize, the Linderstrom
Ephraim Ka tzir
in office.
Land Gold Medal, the
He was born in Kiev in
Hans Krebs Medal, the
1916 to Yehuda and Tzila Katchalski and
Tchernikhovski Prize for scientific trans-
made aliyah to Palestine in 1925. After
lations, the Alpha Omega Achievement
completing his Ph.D. in biochemistry
Medal and the Engineering Foundation's
and organic chemistry in 1941, he went
International Award in Enzyme
on to study at the Brooklyn Polytechnic
Engineering.
Institute, Columbia University and
He was a visiting professor at Harvard
Harvard University.
University, Rockefeller University, the
University of California at Los Angeles
and Battelle Seattle Research Center.
At the start of Sunday's cabinet meet-
ing, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
said of President Katzir: "He was a rare
combination of personal ability and public
mission. He divided his life between sci-
ence and security, between voluntarism
and education, between achievements and
modesty.
"He was a very, very modest man,"
Netanyahu continued. "His life was one
of struggles, challenges, successes and
accomplishments, all of which were for
the good of the State of Israel. Well before
he became president, he had built an
important layer in our national life in this
country. As president, he continued this
special combination and brought his many
abilities and modesty to the institution of
the presidency.
"The State of Israel and its citizens have
lost one of their dearest sons, a man who
did everything for the good of the nation."
President Katzir is survived by a son,
Meir, and a nephew.
Essayist
Amos Elon, 82
Rome/JTA — Amos
Elon, 82, died from
leukemia at his
home in Tuscany,
Italy, May 25, 2009.
Elon, one of Israel's
most distinguished
essayists and his-
Amos Elon
torians, was born
in Vienna in 1926
and moved with his family to Palestine
in 1933.
The author of nine books, Elon also
was a longtime correspondent and col-
umnist for the Israeli daily newspaper
Ha'aretz.
His most recent book was The Pity of
It All, a history of German Jewry from
the 18th century until the rise of Adolf
Hitler.
Elon's decision to leave Israel and
move permanently to Italy in 2004
touched off debate throughout the
Israeli cultural and intellectual world.
di nity
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