Teddy Kollek, former mayor of Jerusalem, dies at 95

Jan 2, 2007, 11:06 GMT

Jerusalem - Teddy Kollek, who served as the widely-popular Israeli mayor of Jerusalem for a generation, has died at the age of 95, Israel Radio reported Tuesday.

Kollek first became mayor of Jerusalem in 1965 and served six consecutive terms in office for a total of 28 years, being re-elected in 1969, 1973, 1978, 1983, and 1989.

Only in 1993, at the age of 82, was he defeated by current Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, then a member of the hawkish Likud party who would exercise a more nationalist policy toward the disputed Jewish- Moslem-Christian city.

Born on May 27, 1911 in Austria-Hungary, Kollek emigrated with his family to British mandatory Palestine in 1935.

He would later become active in Israeli politics as a member of the leftist Labour Party and became mayor two years before Israel captured East Jerusalem from Jordan during the 1967 Middle East war.

Many Israelis view him as the man who turned Jerusalem into a modern city during the nearly three decades he ruled over it.

In 1988, Kollek was awarded Israel's highest civilian honour, the Israel Prize, for his contributions to building modern Jerusalem.