Morris Kahn, the South African-born Israeli entrepreneur-turned-philanthropist who died last week in New York at 95, was hailed by friends and colleagues as a visionary, willing to stake his fortune and reputation on literal moonshots and also on saving the lives of impoverished children in need of heart surgery.

Born on March 5, 1930, in Benoni, South Africa, Kahn was active in the Habonim Zionist youth movement. He made aliyah in 1956 with his wife, Jacqueline, and their two young sons, settling in Beit Yanai, roughly halfway up the coast between Tel Aviv and Haifa. 

His early years in Israel were marked by failures in business — from a leather glove factory and a bicycle factory to a cattle-breeding venture. “Young people today are afraid of failure,” Kahn later said. “But my message is: failure is not a disaster. I succeeded only because I didn’t give up.”

His breakthrough came in 1968 when he won a government tender to produce Israel’s Golden Pages telephone directory, leading to co-founding Amdocs in 1982. Amdocs grew into a global leader in telecom billing software, now with a market capitalization of $8.85 billion. When he and his partners sold their holdings, they earned approximately $1.9 billion, making Kahn what the Israeli financial newspaper Globes described as “the wealthiest Israeli businessman” of his era.

By the time Kahn reached his later years, he had devoted himself almost entirely to philanthropy, investing roughly $200 million across a range of causes — from the environment to medical research to therapeutic horseback riding and protecting Israel’s democracy, among many. Perhaps his best-known initiative was SpaceIL, an Israeli nonprofit aimed at sending a spacecraft to the moon. The effort, which was largely funded by Kahn, was partially successful in 2019, with the craft entering lunar orbit — making Israel the seventh country to realize the feat — but crashing onto the surface. 

Kahn’s interest lay in “venture philanthropy” — applying the entrepreneurial vision that built his telecommunications firm to addressing Israeli and global challenges.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog eulogized Kahn as “an entrepreneur and a visionary” whose “dreams reached all the way to the moon, yet he always remained firmly grounded in his love for Israel and care for the Israeli people.”

He is remembered by the organizations and institutions he supported not just for his generosity, but for his unique vision of philanthropy in Israel, which was, according to Amos Elad, vice president for development and alumni affairs at Tel Aviv University, “brave” and trailblazing. Those who knew of Kahn’s philanthropic work told eJewishPhilanthropy of his dedication, his curiosity and his desire to be involved in every detail. What distinguished his approach, according to those who worked with him, was his deep personal engagement.

“For him, the issue of naming or ego didn’t exist — he didn’t care at all, he didn’t demand it, he didn’t ask for it,” said Elad. “He did it for the impact, to advance the issue or advance the field.”

Khan’s connection to Save a Child’s Heart, an Israeli nonprofit that brings children from around the world to Israel for life-saving heart surgery, began roughly 25 years ago, likely related to his late wife, Jacqueline, who suffered from a heart condition. 

The connection was made through mutual friends from the Habonim Movement, and Kahn became not just the organization’s biggest donor “by far” but its foundational supporter, according to Simon Fisher, the group’s CEO.

“Morris had quite a sparkle in his eye and that’s something that I will always remember, you could see his excitement. You always saw his excitement about new inventions, new things that he was invested into,” Fisher said.

The Jacqueline Kahn Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at the Sylvan Adams Children’s Hospital in Wolfson Medical Center, outside Tel Aviv, stands as a tribute to his late wife and his commitment to the cause. 

“Without him, I don’t believe Save a Child’s Heart would exist,” Dr. Lior Sasson, director of pediatric cardiac surgery at Save a Child’s Heart, told eJP. “He was our first major supporter, standing by us until we became the world-renowned organization we are today,” having saved over 8,000 children from 75 countries.

Sasson described Kahn as “a truly exceptional human being because he possessed a rare vision. He could see what wasn’t obvious to others.  In Save a Child’s Heart, he didn’t just see a medical project; he saw an opportunity to change the world. Even when we were a small, unknown team without a track record, he sensed our potential.”

Kahn didn’t just write checks. Notably, he entered the surgery room at Wolfson Medical Center to witness open-heart surgeries performed by Dr. Sasson, with whom he developed a deep personal bond. “It was incredible to see a man of his age standing on his tippy toes to witness open-heart surgery,” said Fisher.

Kahn also traveled to Ethiopia at age 90 as part of the organization’s work. He served as honorary chairman of Save a Child’s Heart International for over 10 years, and sent a pre-recorded video message to the group’s 30th anniversary event, in which he told the audience, “there is nothing more satisfying than saving the life of a child.”

His support for cardiac care was matched by his investment in cancer research. At Tel Aviv University, Kahn funded the work of professor Ronit Satchi-Fainaro on glioblastoma research. “He was interested in the small details of research — academic research and academic education interested and fascinated him very much,” said Elad of TAU. The Morris Kahn Initiative, a $4 million program at Tel Aviv University, focused on developing 3D cancer modeling of live cancer tumors. “He had hopes to see this in practice, really the progress and the results of clinical studies,” Elad recalled.

At Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Kahn was a founding donor to the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev and funded the Morris Kahn Laboratory of Human Genetics, continuing to support the genetics research of Ohad Birk for years. “Morris was one of those rare individuals who was not only a philanthropist, but he was deeply involved in all of his giving and took it very personally,” said Daniel Chamovitz, president of Ben-Gurion University. “He had the twinkle in his eye of wanting to know what the research was and being updated on what was going on. It wasn’t the naming that was important to him. It was the outcome.”

Chamovitz recalled that Kahn would call out of the blue: “Danny, hi, this is Morris. It’s been a while since we’ve talked. Ben-Gurion University’s always had a special part in my Zionism. What’s going on in the desert?”

For Kahn, who made aliyah as part of an ideological youth movement, Ben-Gurion’s vision of the future emerging from the desert resonated deeply. “Anyone who’s made aliyah from the States or South Africa, England or Australia — everyone brought that Ben-Gurion Zionism with them, of being a chalutz,” Chamovitz said, using the Hebrew word for “pioneer,” noting that their shared youth movement background created an intuitive understanding.

Kahn’s medical philanthropy extended to Big Data Maccabi, using diagnostic data to help medical professionals identify illnesses, and to recent investments in Precise Bio, a company developing 3D-printed corneas and retinas. He also sponsored the Jinka Eye Camp in Ethiopia’s Omo Valley, where volunteer Israeli surgeons performed cataract and trachoma operations for rural villagers suffering from preventable blindness.

Kahn’s love of the sea — he was an avid diver throughout his life — inspired both business ventures and philanthropic initiatives. In 1974, he founded the Eilat Underwater Observatory, a revolutionary concept that allowed non-divers to experience the underwater world. The idea came after he perforated an eardrum while diving and realized “most people don’t get a chance to see the beautiful underwater world, the coral and the fish, because they don’t dive,” he told the Weizmann Institute’s magazine in 2016. Through Coral World International, run today by his son Benjamin, he built underwater centers in Australia, Hawaii, Spain and other locations worldwide.

In 1999, Kahn also co-founded the Zalul Environmental Organization with Benjamin, focusing on protecting Israel’s seas, rivers and coastal areas.  He also funded the Morris Kahn Marine Research Station at the University of Haifa’s Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, which monitors the Mediterranean ecosystem and supports studies on dolphin populations and coral health.

Perhaps less publicly visible but equally significant was Kahn’s nearly three-decade commitment to Israeli democracy. He served on the presidency of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel for almost 30 years, supporting the organization’s legal and public struggles out of what the Movement described as “a deep belief in the rule of law and democracy.” He received the organization’s Yakir (Dear) medal in 2022.

“I’m deeply concerned about the ongoing attacks on the judicial system,” Kahn said in an April 2025 interview. “An independent judiciary is the heart of the country, and it must not be compromised. I support reforms, but the changes this government is promoting are undermining the foundations of our democracy.”

Eliad Shraga, founder and chair of the Movement for Quality Government, recalled Kahn’s support from the organization’s earliest days. “Dan Tolkowsky, the former IAF commander, and professor Michael Sela of the Weizmann Institute told me to go and see Morris Kahn. They said he would help, and he did — for 30 years.”

Shraga remembered a particularly difficult moment: “One year, just before Passover, I didn’t have money to pay salaries, and I was going to re-mortgage our house. I went to Morris, and he said, ‘Don’t you dare.’ He not only covered salaries, but also made sure there was enough to give the staff a gift for the holidays. That was the kind of man Morris was.”

“I loved him so much. He was a five-star Zionist and was broken by what was happening in this country,” Shraga said. “Morris understood before anyone else that corruption is the existential threat we face here. He was absolutely right.”

Shraga traveled to New York to see Kahn in his final days. “I waited in Central Park for three days, hoping for a last five minutes with him. Unfortunately, he was not well enough,” he said.

No initiative captured public imagination quite like Kahn’s involvement with SpaceIL and the Beresheet lunar mission. In 2011, he met the young engineers who had founded the nonprofit with an audacious goal: landing the first Israeli spacecraft on the moon.  Recognizing his own adventurous spirit in their mission, he donated the first $100,000.

As the project’s financial anchor and chairman, Kahn ultimately contributed more than $40 million of the mission’s $100 million budget. His support attracted additional philanthropists, including Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, Lynn Schusterman, and Sylvan Adams.

“This was purely philanthropic,” Kahn told CNN before the launch. “We wanted to prove a point — that we could do it.”

When Beresheet launched aboard a SpaceX rocket on February 22, 2019, it carried Israel’s hopes and a plaque reading “small country, big dreams” and “Am Yisrael Chai.”  On April 11, 2019, the spacecraft crash-landed on the lunar surface due to a technical failure.

“Well, we didn’t make it, but we definitely tried,” Kahn told The New York Times from the control room in Yehud. “And I think the achievement of getting to where we got is really tremendous. I think we can be proud.” He called it a “hard landing” rather than a crash, noting that “the main thing is that we reached the moon.” 

Sasson captured what made Kahn exceptional: “He was more than a philanthropist; he was a friend with an immense heart. Whether in medicine, leadership, or the Israeli space program, his greatness lay in identifying potential early on and empowering people to reach their highest potential for the sake of humanity.”

“Morris felt a deep, personal obligation to save lives,” Dr. Sasson continued. “He placed his faith in us and propelled us forward to where we are today.”

One of Kahn’s unique strengths was his ability to unite other donors around shared causes, paving the way for future Israeli philanthropists.  “One of the great things about Morris was his ability to get people to do things together rather than compete with each other,” said Fisher. “And sometimes in the field of philanthropy I think we find a lot of competition.”

“Morris was somebody who you could unify people around him and behind powerful ideas that he believed in and stood for,” Fisher said. 

Elad at Tel Aviv University echoed this assessment. “He was among the first who donated amounts—let’s call them respectable, significant—and there were others, but indeed he was among the first” of Israeli philanthropists in the high-tech era.

Beyond his major commitments, Kahn supported a wide spectrum of causes. He founded LEAD, an organization dedicated to developing young leadership in Israel. He supported Serious Fun camps for terminally ill children and therapeutic horseback riding programs for people with disabilities. His recent philanthropic work included significant investments in biomedical research, totaling approximately $50 million.

Kahn often quoted the poet Kahlil Gibran to explain his philosophy: “You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”

Fisher recalled Kahn’s entrepreneurial approach extended to his philanthropy: “He would always challenge me with new projects and reaching new targets. And that will remain.”

Kahn’s contributions earned him numerous honors, including the Bonei Zion Prize Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, the Yakir Israel Ribbon from the Council for Beautiful Israel in 2011, and honorary doctorates from Tel Aviv University (2023), the University of Haifa (2024), Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Bar-Ilan University. He was named honorary president of the 20th Maccabiah Games in 2016 and had the honor of lighting the first torch at Israel’s 71st Independence Day ceremony in Jerusalem in 2019.

In an April 2025 interview with the financial newspaper Calcalist, the 95-year-old Kahn reflected on his approach to wealth: “I don’t want to be the richest man in the cemetery. The rest will go to philanthropy.”

Kahn is survived by his two sons: David, a psychologist, and Benjamin, a marine biologist who was recognized as a Time Magazine Hero of the Environment for his conservation work. Kahn’s wife, Jacqueline, died in 2011.

“We will miss him dearly,” said Sasson, “but we find comfort in knowing that his legacy lives on in the heartbeat of every child we save.”