Family
In May 1945, Peres married Sonya Gelman, whom he had met in the Ben Shemen Youth Village, where her father served as a carpentry teacher. The couple married after Sonya finished her military service as a truck driver in the British Army during World War II. Through the years Sonya chose to stay away from the media and keep her privacy and the privacy of her family, despite her husband's extensive political career. With the election of Peres for president, Sonya Peres, who had not wanted her husband to accept the position, announced that she would stay in the couple's apartment in Tel Aviv and not join her husband in Jerusalem. The couple thereafter lived separately. She died on 20 January 2011, aged 87, from heart failure at her apartment in Tel Aviv.
Shimon and Sonya Peres had three children:
- A daughter, Dr. Zvia ("Tsiki") Valdan, a linguist and professor at Beit Berl Academic College;
- An elder son, Yoni, director of Village Veterinary Center, a veterinary hospital on the campus of Kfar Hayarok Agricultural School near Tel Aviv. He specializes in the treatment of guide dogs;
- A younger son, Nehemia ("Chemi"), Co-founder/Managing General Partner of Pitango Venture Capital, one of Israel's largest venture capital funds. Chemi Peres is a former helicopter pilot in the IAF.
Peres is the first cousin of American movie star Lauren Bacall (born Betty Joan Perske, 1924).
Read more about this topic: Shimon Peres
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