Silas Aaron Hardoon

Infobox Person
name = Silas Aaron Hardoon


caption =
birth_date = 1851
birth_place = Baghdad, Ottoman Iraq
death_date = 1931
death_place = Shanghai, China
other_names =
known_for =
occupation = Businessman, Member Shanghai Municpal Council,Member Conseil municipale of the French Concession
nationality =

Silas Aaron Hardoon (1851 – 1931) was a wealthy businessman and well-known public figure in the city of Shanghai in the early 20th century.

Biography

Silas was born Silah Hardoon (סאלח חרדון) into a poor Jewish family in Baghdad. [cite web
url= http://www.dangoor.com/75060.html
title= Silas Aaron Hardoon (1851-1931): Business, Politics and Philanthropy in Republican Shanghai, 1911-1931
accessdate= 2008-05-27
last= Betta
first= Chiara
year= 2002
format= html
work= The Scribe] [cite web
url= http://www.thehardoons.com/
title= The Hardoon Family Genealogy website
accessdate= 2008-09-22
last= David
first= Hardoon
year= 2008
format= html
work= The Hardoons] His family left Baghdad for Bombay where he was educated at a charitable school funded by David Sassoon.

Hardoon traveled to the city of Shanghai in 1868 where he entered the employ of David Sassoon, Sons & Company as a rent collector and watchman. He rose quickly through the ranks of that company, displaying a talent for real estate. After leaving that company he expanded his interests into cotton and the opium trade, becoming a partner in E. D. Sassoon's and Company. Shrewd investments, particularly in properties on Shanghai's "Fifth Avenue," Nanking Road, eventually made him one of that city's wealthiest inhabitants. With the coming of Kristallnacht in November 1938 between 17, 000 to 20, 000 Jews entered the city as refugees fleeing the Third Reich. Hardoon was an important figure in the organisation of aid and financial support to Shanghai's new jewish residents.

Hardoon was a student of Buddhism, establishing a school for monks at Ai-li Park, his twenty-six-acre estate, and personally financing the printing of Buddhist writings. When he died in 1931, his personal fortune was estimated to be worth $150,000,000. [cite book
last=Dong
first=Stella
editor=
title=Shanghai: The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City
origyear=2000
publisher=HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
location=New York, NY
isbn=0-688-15798-X
pages=58-59]

References