The South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) mourns the passing of Eric Samson, a great son of South Africa. Eric was a visionary leader and nation builder and a man of unsurpassed generosity, one whose multifaceted legacy will benefit our country long into the future. Innumerable organizations and individuals benefited from his support throughout his life. This was true not just for the South African Jewish community, of which he was a devoted member, but for the people of South Africa as a whole and for the State of Israel.
One of the primary beneficiaries of Eric and Sheila Samson’s benevolence was the SAJBD. This amazing team was unstinting in their support for the Board, recognising the vital importance of its work in terms of protecting the civil liberties of and South African Jewry and of representing the community’s vital interests, both locally and abroad.
Over the decades, succeeding generations of Board leadership turned to Eric for guidance and wisdom. His door was always wide open to us.
At its centenary conference in 2003, the SAJBD introduced a special new award to acknowledge those adjudged to have made a particularly outstanding contribution in the field of Jewish communal work. This was called the Eric Samson Mendel Kaplan Communal Service Award, in honour of two of the country’s foremost Jewish philanthropists of the time. Since then, the presentation of the award has been amongst the highlights of the Board’s biennial conferences. For Eric Samson, however, this honour was just one of many public acknowledgments of what he had contributed and continued to contribute to his community and his country.
The SAJBD pays fulsome tribute to a South African giant, the magnitude of whose achievements was surpassed only by the greatness of his heart. We further extend our deepest condolences to the Samson family, and in particular to Sheila Samson, who in a marriage of over half a century joined with and supported her husband in his multiple philanthropic endeavours.
