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Miriam Adelson

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Miriam Adelson
מרים אדלסון
Adelson in 2023
Born
Miriam Farbstein

(1945-10-10) 10 October 1945 (age 79)
Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine[1]
Nationality
  • American
  • Israeli
EducationHebrew University of Jerusalem (BS)
Tel Aviv University (MD)
Spouses
Ariel Ochshorn
​
(div. 1986)​
​
​
(m. 1991; died 2021)​
Children4, including Matan
Awards Presidential Medal of Freedom (2018)
Smithsonian Institution's Woodrow Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship (2008)
Doctor Honoris Causa by Tel Aviv University (2007)

Miriam Adelson (Hebrew: מרים אדלסון) is an Israeli-American physician and business woman and 58th richest person in the world.[2] She was married to the late Sheldon Adelson.

As of 2024, estimates place her wealth at $37.5 billion[2][3][4] Notable holdings include the Las Vegas Sands and the Dallas Mavericks. She is the current publisher of Israel Hayom and, with her family, owns the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

She was the third largest donor to Donald Trump's 2024 election bid, giving 106 million dollars in exchange for a commitment from Donald Trump to recognize Israeli annexation of the West Bank.[5][6] Trump awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2018.

Biography

Adelson was born Miriam Farbstein in Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine, in 1945[1] to parents who fled Poland before the Holocaust. Her father was a prominent member of Mapam, a left-wing political party in Israel. In the 1950s, her family settled in Haifa,[7] where Adelson's father owned and operated several movie theaters.[8] She attended the Hebrew Reali School for 12 years.[9]

Medical career

After earning a Bachelor of Science in microbiology and genetics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,[8] she earned a medical degree, graduating magna cum laude from Tel Aviv University Faculty of Medicine.[10]

She served mandatory army service as a medical officer at Ness Ziona. She eventually became the chief internist in an emergency room at Tel Aviv's Rokach (Hadassah) Hospital.[8] She went to Rockefeller University in 1986 as an associate physician specializing in drug addiction. There, she was mentored by, and subsequently collaborated for two decades with, Mary Jeanne Kreek, who was known for the development of methadone therapy for heroin addiction.[8] She has published numerous scientific papers on the topic of drug addiction during her career and has been a guest investigator at Rockefeller University.[10]

Marriage and children

Miriam married Ariel Ochshorn, also a physician, and had daughters Sivan Ochshorn and yasmin lukatz.[11][12][13][14] The couple were divorced by 1986.[15] Mirriam met Sheldon Adelson on a blind date in 1989; they married in 1991.[16][15] Together, they had two sons, Adam Adelson and Matan Adelson.[17]

Sheldon Adelson died in 2021.[12]

Philanthropy

Donald Trump presents the Medal of Freedom to Adelson

In July 2024, Adelson donated $3 million to Israeli volunteer emergency medical services organization United Hatzalah. With the funds, the organization would purchase 76 motorcycles and ambulances and two emergency vehicles.[18]

Miriam operates the the Adelson Foundation.

Notable business ventures

In 1993, Miriam and Sheldon opened the first branch of the Adelson Clinic, a substance abuse clinic, in Israel.[19][11] They opened a second location in Las Vegas in 2000.[19][11] The clinics specialize in the use of medically assisted detox techniques, such as methodone.[19]

In 2018, Adelson was named the publisher of Israel Hayom, the most widely read newspaper in Israel,[20] a position she still holds.[11]

After Sheldon Adelson died in 2021, she became the owner of casino company Las Vegas Sands, which he had founded. She remains the majority owner of Las Vegas Sands, which she runs along with her family.[21]

Ownership of the Dallas Mavericks

Adelson and her son-in-law Patrick Dumont purchased a controlling ownership interest in the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association in December 2023. Dumont became the Mavericks' governor and representative to the NBA Board of Governors.[22] The Adelson-Dumont families' would own 69% of the team and previous controlling owner Mark Cuban's share was reduced to 27%.[23]

Involvement in higher education

She is a voting member on the board of trustees at the University of Southern California[24] and is the president of the Maccabee Task Force.[25]

Miriam was a financial backer of Ariel University's controversial medical school which opened in the West Bank in 2019.[26]

Political views and activity

With her husband and Donald Trump in 2019

Involvement in the 2012 presidential election

She was the top female donor in the 2012 United States elections, contributing as much as the next 15 female donors combined. According to Politico, she reportedly donated $46 million in the 2012 elections.[7]

During the 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries Miriam donated to the pro-Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future in the amount of $5 million.[27]

Involvement in the 2016 presidential election

On January 31, 2019, ABC News reported that Sheldon and Miriam had contributed $500,000 to the Patriot Legal Expense Fund Trust, which was set up in 2018 to assist aides of President Trump under investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. The contributions are the Trust's largest to date.[28]

After 2016, she was known for her support for Donald Trump.[29] She and her husband were the largest donors of Trump throughout his first presidency; they provided the largest donation to his 2016 campaign, his presidential inauguration, his defense fund against the Mueller investigation into Russian interference and the 2020 campaign.[30]

She served as one of the finance vice-chairs for the first inauguration of Donald Trump.[31]

Presidential Medal of Freedom

She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Donald Trump in 2018.[32] Speaking on her Medal of Freedom at an event in August 2024, Trump said, "it’s actually much better because everyone gets the Congressional Medal of Honor, they're soldiers. They’re either in very bad shape because they’ve been hit so many times by bullets or they’re dead. She gets it, and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman, and they’re rated equal."[33]

Involvement in the 2024 presidential election

Trump met with Adelson in February 2024, and she supported Trump in the 2024 United States presidential election.[34][35][36] In May 2024, Politico reported that Adelson would contribute $90 million to a Super PAC supporting Trump. At this time the Biden's campaign account had $84 million cash, and Trump's had $49 million (not accounting for PAC dollars).[37]

Adelson sought support from candidate Trump for Israel's annexation of the West Bank, pledging more than $100 million to Trump's campaign in exchange for U.S. recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the region.[6][38][15]

In January 2025, the Times of Israel reported that Adelson gave Trump's campaign at least $100 million in October 2024, making her that campaign's third largest donor.[39]

Legalization of gambling

Since buying a majority stake in the Dallas Mavericks, Adelson has been advocating for greater legalization of gambling in Texas, in order to build a casino in the state.[40]

Zionist beliefs and activism

Support for Israel

Miriam has said that her heart is in Israel and that she got "stuck" in America after meeting her husband.[11] She is credited with influencing Sheldon Adelson's political views on Israel and inspiring him to donate larges sums of money to Zionist Causes.[41] Adelson is a financial supporter of the Zionist Organization of America, the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum and memorial in Jerusalem, and various U.S. groups that fundraise for the Israeli military.[42]

Adelson and her husband were early donors to the Maccabee Task Force (MTS), an organization aimed at combatting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement on college campuses. In 2015 they donated 2.28 million dollars to the MTS, and their support from 2013 to 2013 totaled more than 70 million dollars.[25] Miriam is the organization's president, but this is not lost listed on the organization's website.[25][43]

Involvement in Birthright Israel

Adelson is a prominent supporter of Birthright Israel, a program that brings young Jews to Israel for free. She has stated that she wanted more young Jews on the trip to “have more Jewish babies” because assimilation is “decimating the Diaspora,” then go back and “lobby governments” and “sway public opinion.”[44]

The program's largest individual donors have been the Adelsons, who had given more than $250 million to Birthright Israel by 2015.[45]

Views on Trump in relation to Zionism

She has written that Trump "should enjoy sweeping support" among U.S. Jews and Israelis, and that Trump deserves a "Book of Trump" in the Bible due to his support for Israel.[46][47][29] Adelson wrote that Trump represents "kinship, friendship, courage, the triumph of truth" and that "Israelis and proud Jews owe Donald Trump our gratitude."[48]

Support for Aviem Sella

See also: Aviem Sella

Adelson pushed Trump to pardon Aviem Sella, who had fled to Israel after being indicted on counts of espionage in 1987 after recruiting Jonathan Pollard, an American Intelligence analyst, to turn over classified information to the Israeli government [49] [50] The extradition treaty between the United States and Israel did not cover espionage, preventing the US from extraditing him.[51] He remained wanted by the United States until Trump issued a pardon for him in the last days of his first term.[50]

President of the Maccabee Task Force

Adelson and her husband were early donors to the Maccabee Task Force (MTS), an organization aimed at combatting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement on college campuses. In 2015 they donated 2.28 million dollars to the MTS, and their support from 2013 to 2013 totaled more than 70 million dollars.[52] Miriam is the organization's president, but this is not lost listed on the organization's website.[52][53]

Estimations of net worth

Since the death of her husband, Miriam Adelson has been ranked as one of the wealthiest people in the world. Forbes estimated her net worth at $38.2 billion in 2021,[54] $27.5 billion in 2022,[55] and $35 billion in 2023.[3] In 2024, Adelson's net worth was estimated at $32 billion, making her the richest Israeli and the 53rd-richest person in the world as well as the richest person in the state of Nevada.[3][4][56] Forbes has also listed Adelson among the ten richest women in America in 2023 and 2024, ranking her fifth and eighth, respectively.[57][58] According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, as of July 2024, Adelson had a net worth of $31.7 billion, which it increased to $37.5 billion four months later.[2]

Awards and recognition

References

  1. ^ a b Binkley, Christina (7 January 2019). "Meet Dr Miriam Adelson: the record-breaking Republican donor driving Trump's Israel policy". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 23 October 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  2. ^ a b c "Bloomberg Billionaires Index: Miriam Adelson". Bloomberg. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "Miriam Adelson & family". Forbes. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Record-breaking number of Israelis featured on Forbes' 2024 billionaire's list". The Jerusalem Post. 3 April 2024. Archived from the original on 18 September 2024. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
  5. ^ "Top Contributors, federal election data for Donald Trump, 2024 cycle". OpenSecrets. Retrieved 8 April 2025.
  6. ^ a b Slyomovics, Nettanel (3 June 2024). "Trump Is Desperate for Miriam Adelson's Cash. Her Condition: West Bank Annexation". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 23 August 2024. Retrieved 4 June 2024.
  7. ^ a b "Miriam Adelson". Hadassah Magazine. 22 October 2014. Archived from the original on 4 August 2018. Retrieved 3 August 2018.
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  10. ^ a b MacWade, Alexandra (17 June 2016). "Miriam O. Adelson, a physician and expert in drug addiction research, is elected to the Board". News. Archived from the original on 29 February 2024. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
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  40. ^ Scherer, Jasper (21 May 2024). "Dade Phelan, House incumbents receive major fundraising boost from casino magnate so they could trade Luka and ruin the Dallas Mavericks on Feb.2, 2025". The Texas Tribune. Archived from the original on 21 May 2024. Retrieved 21 May 2024.
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  51. ^ U.S. Issues ‘No-Contact’ Order With Aviem Sella
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  61. ^ Schleifer, Theodore (25 June 2024). "The Pro-Israel Donor With a $100 Million Plan to Elect Trump". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 26 June 2024. Retrieved 26 June 2024.

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Miriam_Adelson&oldid=1288025552"