Mohamed al Fayed, the billionaire and former owner of Harrods whose son Dodi was killed along with Princess Diana in a car accident in 1997, has died at the age of 94.
Born in Egypt on January 27, 1929, al Fayed built a business empire in the Middle East before moving to the United Kingdom in the 1970s , never realizing his ambition of obtaining a passport for his adopted country.
From a soda seller on the streets of his native Alexandria in Egypt to a big name in the business world: the turning point came after meeting his first wife, Samira Khashoggi, sister of Saudi millionaire Adnan Khashoggi, who took over import business in Saudi Arabia. The marriage lasted just two years but the shipping company did not stop his rise and in 1966 al Fayed became a consultant to one of the richest men in the world, the Sultan of Brunei.
In 1974 the transfer to Great Britain. Five years later he bought the Ritz hotel in Paris (the same one from which Dodi left with Diana that tragic night in 1997) with his brother Ali for 20 million pounds. In 1985, it took over Harrods for £615m after a fierce bidding war with mining group Lonrho. He sold it in 2010 to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund (nearly half of the purchase price was used to pay off the company's debts). Under his ownership, Fulham FC rose from the third tier to the Premier League. But al-Fayed was also a great benefactor: he donated large sums of money to charities, including Great Ormond Street Hospital and in 1987 he established the al Fayed Charitable Foundation.
For years he had lived away from the limelight at his Surrey villa with his wife Heini. The news of her death was confirmed by her family: «Mrs al Fayed, her children and her grandchildren wish to confirm that her beloved husband, father and grandfather, Mohamed, passed away peacefully of old age on Wednesday 30 August 2023. He enjoyed a long and satisfying retirement surrounded by his loved ones».
(Unioneonline/D)
