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Home , Edwin Schlossberg, Maurice Tempelsman

The Man At Jackie's Side In Maurice Tempelsman, The Sophisticated Lady Had Finally Met Her Match

By Paula Span ashiagtoo Post Staff Writer NEW YORK t was a particularly emotional moment at this week's funeral Mass for Jacqueline Kennedy On- assis when Maurice Tempelsman rose to read the poem he had selected. Entitled "Ithaka," it spoke 'of discovery and of life's journey, and Tempels- Iman added his own sorrowful coda about a journey that had been too short "So farewell, farewell," he conclud- ed. "Every' one was deeply moved," one of the mourners in attendance said afterward. "He read as if he'd writ- ten the poem himself. It was so personal, so heartfelt." For the co-workers, friends and family inside the limestone church, Tempelsman had become a familiar figure, someone they would expect to participate in the service, to stand at Onassis's grave site with her chil- dren. But to those who knew him only from magazine photos of Tempelsman and Onassis strolling through , the captions generally identifying him as her "companion" or "friend," he was more enigmatic. It took her death to fully reveal the central role that the very private Tempelsman—a man who shared her home, though a man who remains married to another woman—had come to play in her life. They were the same age, 64, though her enduring loveliness and his stocky plainness made him appear older.. They shared many things: summers on Martha's Vineyard, interests in art and antiquities (Tempelsman is a collector), fluency in French, an aversion to publici-, ty. In the public mind, Tempelsman must possess spe-' dal qualities to have attracted such a regal and cele- brated woman. But his admirers, who are many, can see the relationship the other way around: Onassis ust have been far more than a famous beauty to have m ed such a cultured and scholarly man. "It shows her.seriousness and the depth of her intellect," says Phil Baum; acting head of the American Jewish Congress, where Tempelsman has been an active trustee. See TEMPELSMAN, DIO, Cot 3 1.1Y MOS MRIMAN-SY GMA

Maurice Tempeisman and Jackie Onassis in New York a week before her death.

peisman nas inenosnips ana ousmess alliances of 30 years' duration .there, glides easily Jackie's through its political and economic circles, is a connoisseur of African art. "He's a player in that sCene,":says Chester Crocker, former as- 'sist4ht secretary of state for African affairs. iet Until Wilkins succeeded him several months , Tempelsman served as chairman of the boiind of the 'nonprofit AfriCan-American Insti- Companion tute, which fosters African development and cooperation between Africans and Americans. TEMPELSMAN, From Dl •in terms of wealth, Tempelsman is not in the Aristotle Onassis league: By Forbes magazine's "For those of us who cared about Mrs. On- calculations, his personal worth didn't reach the assis, it was comforting—it was terrific—to $300 million threshold needed to land on the know she was with somebody who was a good, Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans. He is generous and gentle man," says Roger Wilkins, a prosperous man nonetheless. That was his who was an Agency for International Develop- 70-foot yacht, the Relemar, berthed at the ment administrator during the Kennedy Ad- Vineyard, on which Jacqueline Onassis hosted ministration and has known TempeIsmail, for the vacationing First Family last summer; years. Tempelsman was at the helm. A Belgian-born Jew, Teinpelsman and his . He met Jacqueline Kennedy when she was family fled Europe in 1940 and ,Came to New still a young senator's wife and he was support- York, where his father established a - ing JFK's presidential aspirations. Tempelsman brokerage. The industry has always been domi- has long been generous to Democratic Party nated by families, and Maurice joined his fa- candidates, last year contributing more than ther's firm as a teenager, just as two of his $83,000 to the Democratic National Commit- three children and a son-in-law have joined his. tee, the Democratic Senatorial and Congres- He is chief executive officer of Latare. ;-14 sional campaign committees, and individual plan Inc. (1993 gross sales: $166 campaigns. Headquartered on ; it is one of-the` But it was apparently not until after Aristotle largest U.S. companies speci,aliiingin the itnt Onassis's death in 1975, with the twice-wid- port, cutting and sale of ; its custom: owed Jacqueline living in New York, that they ers include Tiffany and Cartier. Teinpelsmanis' began spending time together. Tempelsman ' also the general partner of Leon'Tempeisrnan was one of the • financial advisers who helped . & Son, which has investmentsmining 'and min- eial.trading interests around the world, partic- Ularly in central and western . " • . Africa has been an abiding interest; Tein- Maurice Tempelsman, far right, at the funeral of his companion. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. along with John Kennedy Jr. (left), Schlossberg aruf Edwin Schlossberg. her multiply the reported $26 million settle- Perhaps inevitably, Tempelsinah's long im- ment' ',she received after Aristotle Onassis's mersion in African politics and the diamond :death. Published estimates of Jacqueline Onas- trade, along with the occasional display of do- Sis's 'wealth have varied wildly—$100 million? mestic political muscle, have lent _NM an air of $200 million? "HiS counsel resulted' in increas- intrigue. In 1990, for example, The Washing- ing:het-assets substantially," was all a discreet ton Post reported that former representative Tempelsman spokesman would say. Mervyn Dymally (D-Calif.), a leader in Seeking •13y the early '80s, though Tempelsman de-. economic sanctions against South Africa, had scribed himself in a Fortune interview as a lam-- changed his position on diamond imports after ily friend, he and Onassis were quietly but un- . a 1988 meeting with Tempelsman—and after mistakably a couple, seen at small dinner Tempelsman's $34,200 contribution to a Dy- parties and low-key cultural events. According to the spokesman, Tempelsman moved into mally-supported scholarship fund for minority Onassis's rambling Fifth Avenue apartment students. Dymally denied soliciting the contri- overlooking Central Park about 1988. His wife bution or being influenced by it; Tempelsman of more than '40 years, Lily, lives across the also said that the contribution and Dymally's park on the Upper West Side. shift were unrelated. Yet it was rare to hear or read a word of op- "There are people who think, and have al- probrium about Tempelsman and Onassis's re- leged, that because Maurice has been involved lationship, even from New York's cattier col- in that business in Africa for years, he's a bad umnists and insatiable tabloids, which never fellow . . [that] he can't be in that business tired of running her photograph. It was almost and be a person who is always honorable," Wil- as though the press and public had decided she kins says. But Wilkins and Derryck describe was entitled to grow old with someone. His ac- Tempelsman as a strong supporter of African ceptance by her family probably helped quiet liberation and democratization, who helped un- criticism; "John and Caroline have come to feel derwrite Nelson Mandela's first visit to the quite close tojiirn," his spokesman says. United States. "They were a well-matched and distin- More personally, they and other friends and guished couple," says Vivian Lowery Derryck, associates portray a man of Old World courtli: president of the African-American Institute. ness, courtesy and erudition. "You know from Onassis occasionally accompanied Tempelsman to small institute dinners with African leaders. what he says, as well as what he doesn't say, His demeanor toward her was unfailingly "com- that there's a lively and fertile mind operating fortable, respectful and loving," Derryck says. there," Crocker says. "This is a world citizen "And she respected and admired him and held we're talking about, at home in almost any cul- him in great affection." ture he Finds himself in." As Onassis's illness progressed, Tempels- What . did Jacqueline Onassis see in him? man was omnipresent, escorting her home was a receptionist, and he had every right to ig- from the hospital, supporting her on her last nore me," says a young woman who worked at. walks through the neighborhood, keeping vigil one of Tempelsman's companies several years by her bedside with her children as she died. ago. "But he was so warm, so friendly. . . . He's Friends say they have sent notes of condolence the kind of person whose eyes twinkle when he but have not wished to intrude on his evident speaks to you." She never wondered why they grief. were together.