Brazilian billionaire Moise Safra died on June 14 at Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo aged 79.

Brazilian billionaire Moise Safra died on 14 June at Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo, aged 79.

Born in Syria he was a member of the Safra banking dynasty. In the 1950’s he moved to Brazil where he founded Banco Safra with his brothers Edmond and Joseph.

In 1998, Moise Safra seperated from the family business and opened a family office - M. Safra & Co. - with headquarters in New York and Sao Paulo. In 2006 he cut all his ties when he sold his 50 per cent stake in Banco Safra to his younger brother Joseph who reportedly paid $2.5 billion ($1.5 billion), putting an end to years of disputes over direction of the bank.

Joseph Safra still oversees Sao Paulo-based Banco Safra SA, Brazil’s eighth-largest bank and the flagship of the family’s financial empire. Edmond, the family's older sibling and one of the most prominent private bankers of the past century, died in December 1999 in an arson attack at his Monte Carlo penthouse.

Moise Safra's fortune was estimated at $2.5 billion by Forbes Magazine. He was married to Chella Cohen Safra, with whom he had five children and was deeply involved in Jewish community affairs in Brazil, spending a great deal of his time and fortune funding health, education and charity projects and paying for the construction of synagogues and community centres.