Maurice Tempelsman, Jackie Kennedy’s Companion, Dies at 95
Maurice Tempelsman, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s longtime partner, died on August 23, 2025, at 95, after a fall in Manhattan. Born in 1929 in Antwerp, Belgium, he fled Nazi persecution in 1940, settling in New York. He became a diamond trade magnate, brokering U.S. government deals for African diamonds and a prominent Democratic donor with ties to John F. Kennedy.
His friendship with Jacqueline began in 1961, turning romantic after Aristotle Onassis’s death in 1975. Tempelsman advised her financially, doubling her $26 million inheritance. When she faced lymphatic cancer in 1993, he moved into her apartment, caring for her until her 1994 death. At her funeral, he read “Ithaka” by C.P. Cavafy. Survived by his children—Leon, Rena, and Marcy—grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, Tempelsman’s private, loyal bond with Jacqueline defined her final years.
