Calouste Gulbenkian

Calouste Gulbenkian
175px '
Birth name	Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian
Name in Armenian	Գալուստ Սարգիս Կիւլպէնկեան
Birthplace	Constantinople
Birth date	1 March 1896
Lived in	Istanbul, London, Baku, Cairo, Lisbon
Resides in	Lisbon
Death place	Lisbon
Death date	1955/07/20
Death year	1955
Education	King's College London
Profession	Businessman, Philanthropist
Languages	Armenian, English, Turkish
Ethnicities	Armenian
Dialects	Western Armenian
Ancestral villages	Üsküdar
Spouses	Nevarte Essayan
Children	Nubar Sarkis, Sivarte

Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (1869-1955) was an Armenian businessman and philanthropist.

He was born in Istanbul and educated at King's College, London, where he studied engineering. Immediately on leaving, he went into the oil business, and was one of the first to open up the Middle East to the trade. He was involved in founding the Shell Group, and his habit of retaining five per cent of the shares of the oil companies he developed earned him the nickname, "Mr. Five Per Cent".

When Iraq was taken from the Ottoman Empire in World War I its oil was divided up between the western countries and controlled through the Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC). Gulbenkian owned five percent of IPC.

Gulbenkian amassed a huge fortune and an art collection which he kept in a private museum at his Paris home. Following his death in Portugal, a museum and charitable foundation were established on the site of his former home in Lisbon. The Foundation is chiefly associated with educational and artistic projects.

Misc

William Saroyan

In his book, Letters from 74 rue Taitbout, William Saroyan writes a long letter about his experiences meeting with and talking to Calouste Gulbenkian during his stay in Lisbon, upon discovering that by chance they were staying at the same hotel.

See also

• Gulbenkian Prize

External links

• http://www.gulbenkian.pt/
• http://www.gulbenkian.org.uk/
• http://www.gulbenkian.org/