Maurice Tempelsman | |
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 Tempelsman in 2012 | |
| Born | (1929-08-26)August 26, 1929 Antwerp, Belgium |
| Died | August 23, 2025(2025-08-23) (aged 95) New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | New York University |
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| Known for |
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| Spouse | |
| Partner | Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (1980–1994; her death) |
| Children | 3 |
Maurice Tempelsman (August 26, 1929 – August 23, 2025) was a Belgian-American businessman,diamond magnate and merchant.[2][3] He was the longtime companion ofJacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the 35thFirst Lady of the United States.
Maurice Tempelsman was born on August 26, 1929, inAntwerp, Belgium, the son of Leon and Helene Tempelsman, bothOrthodox Jews,[4] in aYiddish-speaking family inAntwerp's Jewish community.[3] In 1940, Tempelsman and his family emigrated to the United States asNazi Germany invaded Belgium.[5] When he was 16, Tempelsman began working for his father, a diamond broker.[3] He attendedNew York City's public schools andNew York University.[6][7][8][9][10]
He was also ageneral partner of Leon Tempelsman & Son, aninvestment company specializing in real estate andventure capital.[12]
In 1950, Tempelsman created a newmarketing niche by persuading the U.S. government to stockpile African diamonds for industrial and military purposes, with himself as themiddleman. In 1957, at the age of 27, he and his lawyer,Adlai Stevenson, traveled to Africa, where Tempelsman had begun forging ties with leaders. His contacts eventually ranged from South Africananti-apartheid politicianOliver Tambo to Zaire'skleptocratic dictator,Mobutu Sese Seko, and the influentialOppenheimer diamond family. Declassified memos and cables between former U.S. presidents and State Department officials from the 1950s to the 1990s have named Tempelsman with direct input in the destabilization of Congo, Sierra Leone, Angola, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Rwanda, and Ghana.[13] He was involved in the overthrow of Ghana's first elected president,Kwame Nkrumah, theCIA-backed assassination of Congo's first-elected prime minister,Patrice Lumumba, and the cover-up of CIA covert support for Mobutu.[13]
Tempelsman was chairman of the board of directors ofLazare Kaplan International Inc. (LKI), the largest diamond company in the United States, noted for its "idealcut" diamonds sold worldwide under the brand name Lazare Diamonds.[14][15][16] Tempelsman was one of fewer than 90 "sightholders" in the world, which means that 10 times a year he was permitted to buy diamonds directly from the powerfulDe Beers cartel in theCity of London. Because De Beers was a virtual monopoly, for many years it could not operate legally in the United States.[17]
Tempelsman maintained relations with political and business leaders, in particular government leaders in Africa and Russia, and leading figures in the U.S.Democratic Party.[2][14] His extensive political contacts andmonetary contributions often provided him with access and prestige in those markets, as was the case during thepresidency of Bill Clinton.[2][18] From 1993 to 1997, Tempelsman visited theWhite House at least ten times, met privately withHillary Clinton on two occasions, vacationed with the Clintons and theKennedy family inMartha's Vineyard, and flew to Moscow and back with President Clinton onAir Force One.[2][8]
In Southern Africa, Tempelsman played a key role in negotiations between hostile governments and companies engaging indiamond exploration. He met with Mobutu Sese Seko, to assist theregime's business dealings withDe Beers. In the 1960s Tempelsman hired as his business agent the CIA station chief inKinshasa,Larry Devlin, who helped put Mobutu in power and afterward served as his personal adviser.[19][20] From March 3, 1977, Tempelsman briefly held the title of honoraryconsul general for Zaire, now known as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), at the DRC'sconsular offices in New York City.[21] In addition to the DRC, Tempelsman played a key role in the diamond industries of Angola, Botswana, Namibia, and Sierra Leone.[22][23][24][25]
Tempelsman served as chairman of theCorporate Council on Africa (CCA) from 1999 to 2002 and again from 2007 to 2008, after which he was named chairmanemeritus.[26] An example of his work with the CCA involved assisting government leaders with establishing theNew Partnership for Africa's Development.[27] Tempelsman was a board member of the Southern African Enterprise Development Fund, and past chairman and long-serving board member of theAfrica-America Institute.[28]
Tempelsman was atrustee of the Eurasia Foundation,[29] and adirector of theNational Democratic Institute for International Affairs,[30] theCenter for National Policy, theBusiness Council for International Understanding, and theU.S.-Russia Business Council.[10]
He was chairman of the International Advisory Council of theHarvard School of Public Health'sAIDS Initiative,[31] and was an honorary trustee and an honorary member of the corporation of theWoods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Tempelsman was a member of theCouncil on Foreign Relations, and was named a visitor to the Department ofClassical Art at theMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston. A director of theAcademy of American Poets, Tempelsman also served as a trustee of theNew York University Institute of Fine Arts, and onLenox Hill Hospital's advisory board. He has served on severalPresidential Commissions including the President's Commission for the Observance of Human Rights, the Citizen's advisory board of Youth Opportunities and the National Highway Safety Advisory Committee, and was appointed to the New York Council on International Business.[10]
In 1980, Tempelsman purchased two 500 BCacroliths representingDemeter andPersephone (consisting of two marble heads, three feet, and three hands) from the subsequently-infamous art dealer,Robin Symes, for $1 million.[32]
The Italian government claimed the items when on display in a 1988 exhibition at theJ. Paul Getty Museum inMalibu; the museum had listed them as belonging to a private collector.[33] The Italian authorities determined that they were looted fromMorgantina, and smuggled into Switzerland, where they were acquired by Symes. They were finally repatriated to the archeological museum ofAidone in 2007, after being on exhibit for five years at theFralin Museum of Art, part of theUniversity of Virginia inCharlottesville.[34] Putatively, in 2005, Tempelsman donated the pieces to the university museum, and the restitution to Italy was mediated by the university's archeology professor Malcolm Bell III.[35][36]
In 1949, Tempelsman married Lilly Bucholz or Burkos (sources differ), who had also fled Antwerp with her family. Together they had three children, Rena, Leon and Marcy.[5][4] Their daughter Rena is the widow of Robert Speisman, an executive vice president of Lazare Kaplan International Inc. who died on boardAmerican Airlines Flight 77, when the aircraft crashed intoThe Pentagon during theSeptember 11 attacks.[37][failed verification]
Tempelsman and Bucholz separated in 1984. However, they never legally divorced.[4][38] Lilly died in 2022.[38]
Tempelsman was the longtime companion ofJacqueline Kennedy Onassis.[2][39] Templesman and his wife Lilly had previously been frequent guests in the White House during theKennedy Administration, with Tempelsman eventually becoming Jackie's financial advisor.[40] The two began their relationship in 1980, five years after the death of Jacqueline Onassis's second husbandAristotle Onassis.[14][41] In 1988, Tempelsman moved into Onassis'sFifth Avenuepenthouse apartment in New York City.[4] Details of their romance received limited, if any, media coverage until the time after Onassis's death in 1994, with theNew York Times even noting that Tempelsman had been "quietly at her side" even toward the end of her life and didn't go "public" until afterwards.[42][4][43] Even by 1989, Templesman was described as a "public escort and private companion" who only "stayed several nights a week in Onassis's Fifth Avenue Apartment" rather than living there altogether, with Onassis also living a more private life by 1988.[40][44] However, despite separating from his wife in 1984, Tempelsman still remained legally married to Lilly throughout the course of his relationship with Onassis.[4]
During their relationship, he handled Onassis's finances, quadrupling the $26 million that was secured from theestate of her late husband Aristotle Onassis.[45] The couple frequently took walks throughCentral Park and were photographed doing so in the days preceding her death in May 1994.[46] At Onassis's funeral Mass, Tempelsman readConstantine P. Cavafy's poemIthaca, one of her favorites, and concluded by saying: "And now the journey is over, too short, alas, too short. It was filled with adventure and wisdom, laughter and love, gallantry and grace. So farewell, farewell."[3][47]
Tempelsman was one of twoexecutors of thewill that she had drawn up with her long-time attorney,Alexander D. Forger.[45] She left him a "Greekalabaster head of a woman" and named Tempelsman to be a co‑chair of acharitable organization, the C & J Foundation.[45][48] Ultimately, there was no residuary left to fund the foundation after estate taxes were paid.[49]
Tempelsman died of complications from a fall atWeill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan on August 23, 2025, three days before his 96th birthday.[50]
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