Prince Karim Aga Khan was the 49th Imam and spiritual leader of the Ismaili Muslim community. He passed away at the age of 88 in Lisbon, Portugal on Tuesday.
He was born in 1936 in Switzerland and spent his early years in Nairobi. He obtained a degree in Islamic history from Harvard University.
In 1957, when he was 20 years old, he took over the reins of the Ismaili community after his grandfather, Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah Aga Khan, passed away.
Prince Karim Aga Khan had dedicated himself to improving the lives of underprivileged communities worldwide. Through the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), he spearheaded transformative initiatives in education, healthcare, economic development, and cultural preservation, mainly benefiting regions in Asia and Africa.
He was conferred numerous prestigious international honors, including Pakistan’s highest civilian awards, the Nishan-e-Pakistan and Nishan-e-Imtiaz, for his exceptional efforts in the country’s development.
He was influential in diplomacy too. Vanity Fair magazine described him as a “One-Man State” for the global impact that he had created. He even played a major role in ensuring historic diplomatic talks between U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Geneva.
His ancestry belonged to Persia, from whence his forefathers migrated to India many centuries ago. He was also an ardent horse breeder besides being a worthy leader and philanthropist. He had won the Derby with one of his horses which was stolen at the 1981 Epsom Derby.
With an estimated net worth between $1 billion and $13 billion, his vast assets included a private island in the Bahamas, a palace in Paris, and a $200 million luxury yacht.
His three sons have survived him: Rahim Aga Khan, Ali Muhammad Aga Khan, and Hussain Aga Khan, as well as one daughter, Zahra Aga Khan.
