Who is Vicky Safra?
Vicky Safra is a billionaire and philanthropist. She is the widow of Joseph Safra, one of the richest men in Brazil. The banker and businessman passed away in December 2020. As a result, Vicky ended up in possession of a billion-dollar fortune, which is why her name is often mentioned today.
Despite the fortune that Vicky Safra has today, she keeps a very low profile when it comes to her media appearances. Just as this restraint in exposing her image was also characteristic of her late husband Joseph Safra.
In addition, she became the richest woman in Brazil, according to the Forbes 2023 list. Vicky Safra has accumulated a personal wealth that has been built up over the 180 years of the Safra family.
Because of this, Vicky lives a comfortable life, as do her four children, and does philanthropic work that helps hospitals, the arts and education.
How did Vicky Safra meet Joseph Safra?
The origin of the Safra family fortune was in Syria, when in the 1840s they allocated resources to camel caravans that played an important role in the Ottoman Empire’s trade. It was then that Jacob Safra came to Brazil in 1953 and founded Safra Importação e Comércio and also a bank.
Jacob Safra’s youngest son was the well-known Joseph Safra, who spent time in England, the United States and Argentina before actually living in Brazil.
Joseph’s brother is Edmond Safra, who also became an important banker. It was in Brazil that Joseph met Vicky Sarfaty, who would become Vicky Safra, as she is better known today.
The Sarfaty family was also of Jewish origin and ended up migrating to Brazil when Vicky Safra was still a child, around 1950. It was this meeting of families that led to the marriage between Vicky and Joseph Safra in 1969.
The relationship with Joseph Safra
Joseph was very satisfied with their relationship, and even stated in the J. Safra Sarasin report that it would last until the end of his life, as indeed it did. At the time of their marriage, Vicky Safra was still 17 years old.
Over time, this relationship produced 4 children and 14 grandchildren for the Safra couple for the Safra couple. The children ended up playing an important role in the family business. The eldest is Jacob Safra and he takes care of the company’s international operations.
The couple’s youngest son is David J. Safra, who until then has supervised the company and the family business, but more specifically in Brazil.
The positions the sons have taken on are in line with the planning they had throughout Joseph Safra’s life, which included preparing them to replace their father in the business.
Vicky Safra’s fortune and assets
Since Joseph Safra’s death, Vicky Safra and her children inherited most of the assets and fortune. J. Safra Sarasin in Switzerland, for example, is one of for example, is one of the family’s ventures.
The other is Banco Safra do Brasil, which together with the with the previous one, has around 90 billion dollars in assets.
Vicky Safra and her children have a few properties to their name, such as the Gherkin skyscraper in London. Another property is 660 Madison Avenue in New York.
But it wasn’t just the family that managed to get involved in the bank’s business. Vicky’s brother, Helio Sarfaty, is more involved with the Safrapay payment method and has been with the company for many years.
As for the other children, Alberto Safra left the company’s board in 2019, but he still has a stake in the J. Safra Group and founded ASA Investments. Esther Teira Safra heads the Beit Yaacov school in São Paulo.
Vicky Safra lives in Switzerland and has an estimated fortune of US$ 16.6 billion, according to Forbes. Like other billionaires, Vicky is a philanthropist.
She runs the Vicky and Joseph Safra Foundation, which works with philanthropic activities in the fields of education, the arts and helping hospitals.
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