Shlomo Shamir (15 June 1915 – 19 May 2009) was the third Commander of the Israeli Navy (1949–1950), and the first Israeli Navy Commander to receive the rank of Aluf. He was the third Commander of the Israeli Air Force (1950–1951).
Biography
Shlomo Shamir was born Shlomo Rabinowitch, in Berdychiv, Russian Empire. He was taken to Mandatory Palestine in 1925. In 1929 he joined the Haganah and was instrumental in smuggling weapons and illegal Jewish immigrants into Palestine during the time of the British Mandate and the White Paper of 1939. In 1940 he received his pilot license, and in the same year he joined the British Army's infantry in order to fight the Nazis. In 1944 upon the establishment of the Jewish Brigade he was appointed Internal Commander of the Brigade on behalf of the Haganah and the Jewish Institution in Palestine. In 1946 he was discharged from the British military with the rank of major.
In civilian life, Shamir established Israel's Phosphate mines and headed Israel's land Authorities. He received a master's degree in Social Sciences from Tel Aviv University and a master's degree in administration from Harvard University.
On 19 May 2009 Shamir died in Tel Aviv at the age of 93, leaving his daughter Yael, two grandchildren and one great-grandchild.[3]