Maurice Tempelsman, Jackie Kennedys last love, dead at 95

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 r...