World

Lily Safra, Star-Crossed Socialite and Philanthropist, Dies at 87


Lily Watkins was born on December 20, 1934 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Her father, Wolf Watkins, was a British engineer who moved to Latin America in search of business opportunities and found them while serving the region’s booming railway industry. Her mother, Annita (Noudelman) Watkins, a homemaker, fled her native Ukraine in the face of drug-resistant fevers.

Mr. Watkins owned a railway carriage factory in Mesquita, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, where he soon moved with his young family. He became a town elder, and even today the town’s main street, Rua Mister Watkins, bears his name.

When Lily Watkins was 19 years old, she moved to Montevideo, Uruguay, where she married Mario Cohen, a hosiery magnate. They had three children but a troubled marriage, and they quickly divorced.

She returned to Brazil, and in 1965 she married Alfredo Monteverde, a Romanian immigrant who was born Greenberg but was of Spanish descent in her last name. He made a lot of money owning a chain of appliance stores, but he also struggled with depression. He died by suicide in 1969, leaving her around $200 million.

Ms. Safra’s survivors include a daughter, Adriana Cohen; one son, Eduardo Cohen; and some grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Full survivor information is not immediately available.

After Mr. Monteverde’s death, she moved to London. She meets Mr. Safra, the son of a family of Lebanese merchants, when she asks him for help in handling her sudden wealth. They began dating, although his religious Sephardic family disliked his more secular Ashkenazic girlfriend, and they broke up.



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