Gift to Establish the Moise Y. Safra Professorship	Print Issue
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(clockwise from top left): Ezra M. Safra, W'94, WG'97; Jacob M. Safra; Edmond M. Safra and Moise Y. Safra

In June, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania announced a generous gift to establish the Moise Y. Safra Professorship. This endowed chair was established by a Moise Y. Safra family foundation in celebration of Ezra M. Safra’s 20th reunion and named in honor of his father.

“The generosity and foresight of the Safra family in establishing this professorship will enable the School to continue to recognize and reward excellence in scholarship and teaching,” said outgoing Wharton Dean Thomas S. Robertson. “We are grateful for Ezra’s leadership in designating this gift in his father’s honor, and we look forward to naming a distinguished faculty member as the finance department’s first Moise Y. Safra Professor.”

Wharton’s 225-plus professors generate the knowledge and innovations that transform global business practice and public policy.  Drawn from 10 distinct departments, they work with leading companies and policymakers around the world, and bring that real-world, real-time knowledge into Wharton’s classrooms and 20 research centers and initiatives. The Wharton School’s finance department houses more than 40 standing faculty members who focus on four areas of specialization: banking and financial institutions, corporate finance, financial instruments and portfolio management and international finance.

“The finance department is excited by the opportunity to award the Moise Y. Safra Professorship to one of our extraordinary faculty members,” said David Musto, department chair and Ronald O. Perelman Professor in Finance.  “Each day, our faculty engages in groundbreaking financial research with the potential to change how we do business worldwide. The faculty support provided by the Moise Y. Safra Professorship allows us to advance our work even further.”

Ezra M. Safra, W’94, WG’97, is the CEO of M. Safra & Co., which manages hedge funds in São Paolo, Brazil.

“I’m pleased, along with my brothers Ezra and Edmond, to continue our family’s support of Wharton into the next generation,” said Jacob M. Safra, president of the family foundation.

Moise Y. Safra passed away June 13 at age 79 in Brazil.