Ephraim Kishon

{{Audio|He-Efraim_Kishon.ogg|Ephraim Kishon}} (Hebrew:????? ?????) (August 23, 1924 – January 29, 2005) was an Israeli satirist, dramatist, screenwriter, and film director.

Family

His first marriage (1946) to Eva (Chawa) Klamer ended in divorce. In 1959 he married his second wife Sara (née Lipovitz), who died in 2002. In 2003 he married Lisa Witasek. He had three children: Raphael (b. 1957), Amir (b. 1964), and Renana (b. 1968).

Related Topics:
1946 - Divorce - 1959 - 2002 - 2003

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Kishon was a life-long chess enthusiast, and early on he took interest in chess-playing computers.

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In 1990, German chess computer manufacturer Hegener & Glaser together with Fidelity produced the Kishon Chesster, a chess computer distinguished by the spoken comments it would make during a game.

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Kishon wrote the comments to be humorous, but also carefully chosen to be relevent to chess and the position in the game.

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In 1981 Kishon established a second home in the rural Swiss canton of Appenzell.

Related Topics:
Swiss - Appenzell

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He had become to feel somewhat estranged and unappreciated in Israel, believing that some native-born Israelis were against him because he was a Hungarian immigrant and that the literary establishment looked down on his best-selling "middle-brow" works.

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Kishon became increasingly conservative and continued to strongly support Zionism, and also publicly supported the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

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In March 2002 Kishon received the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement, the nation's highest civilian award.

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He commented "I've won the Israel Prize, even though I'm pro-Israel. It's almost like a state pardon. They usually give it to one of those liberals who love the Palestinians and hate the settlers."

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Kishon died in Switzerland at age 80, apparently of a heart attack.

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His body was returned to Israel and buried in the artists' cemetary in Tel Aviv.

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