Maurice Tempelsman, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ longtime partner until her death, has died at age 95.
The Belgian-born diamond tycoon died on Aug. 23 after complications from a fall, his son Leon told The New York Times.
Tempelsman, who amassed an impressive fortune selling diamonds from Africa’s Gold Coast, boasted a close relationship with the former First Lady for years — a bond that eventually turned romantic in the final chapter of her life.
Born in Aug. 1929 in Antwerp, Belgium to Orthodox Jewish parents, Tempelsman and his family fled Europe in 1940 as Nazi Germany invaded Belgium.
The family settled in New York City, with Tempelsman later enrolling at New York University for two years.
After dropping out, he worked at his father’s diamond merchant company, Leon Tempelsman & Son, prompting him to become an internationally influential diamond merchant.
By 1950, Tempelsman had persuaded the US government to buy African industrial diamonds and to stockpile them as strategic materials.
The jewelry honcho soon became a multi-millionaire, and served as the middleman between the African suppliers and the government for years.
Throughout his life, Tempelsman had maintained close ties with the government and was an ardent supporter of the Democratic Party, famously becoming a major donor and donating around $500,000 in the 1990s alone.
He had also boasted close personal friendships with several prominent Democratic leaders, including Jacqueline Onassis’s late husband, President John F. Kennedy, as well as key figures from later administrations such as Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright and National Security Adviser Anthony Lake, both of whom served under President Bill Clinton.
Although Tempelsman had known Kennedy Onassis for years, their relationship didn’t turn romantic until the last decade of her life.
After the death of her second husband, Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, in 1975, Tempelsman became Kennedy Onassis’ financial adviser and reportedly quadrupled her $26 million inheritance.
He was also fiercely protective of the former First Lady, and famously shooed away photographers who tried to snap them on their frequent walks through Central Park, the outlet adds.
After she was diagnosed with lymphatic cancer in 1993, Tempelsman became her primary caregiver and had moved into her apartment full-time.
The following year, Kennedy Onassis died at age 64. Tempelsman stood beside her children at the funeral.
Tempelsman is survived by the three children he shared with Lilly Bucholz, whom he married in 1949. The couple separated long before he began his relationship with Kennedy Onassis.
In addition to son Leon, and daughters, Rena and Marcy, the diamond tzar is survived by six grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
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