Morris Schinasi
Morris Schinasi | |
|---|---|
| Moris Şinasi | |
| Born | Musa Eskenazi April 27, 1855 |
| Died | September 10, 1928 New York City, U.S. |
| Nationality | American–Ottoman |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Spouse |
Laurette Schinasi (m. 1903) |
| Children | 3 daughters including Altina (1907–99) |
| Awards | Order of the Medjidie of the Ottoman Empire |
Morris Schinasi (Turkish: Moris Şinasi; born Musa Eskenazi; April 27, 1855 – September 10, 1928) was an Ottoman-born wealthy American businessman in the tobacco industry.
He was born in 1855 in Manisa, Ottoman Empire to relatively poor Sephardic Jew parents. At the age of nine, he contracted diphtheria. He was treated by a Muslim physician named Şinasi (Shinasi or Schinasi in European languages) and regained his health. His parents named him henceforth Moris Şinasi as a gesture of gratitude. He had two brothers Solomon (also known as Shlomo) and Yaakov, and a sister, Sultana.
He was forced to leave the school and worked in a Jewish cemetery as a guard. At the age of fifteen, he left Turkey for Alexandria, Egypt, where he lived until he was nearly thirty. It was then that Garaffolo, a successful Greek tobacco merchant, who informally adopted Schinasi in Alexandria, determined that Schinasi should seek his fortune in America. In 1890, he immigrated to the United States.