São Paulo – Violeta Jafet, honorary chairwoman of the Syrian-Lebanese Hospital’s Ladies’ Benevolent Society died last Monday (26) at her home in São Paulo, at 108 years of age.
Violeta was the daughter of Adma Jafet, the hospital’s founding mother, who passed away in 1956. Violeta was the one who officially cut the ribbon for the hospital, on August 15, 1965. The first director was physician Daher Cutait.
"My mother was a very intelligent, she was 100 years ahead of me,” Violeta said during an event honoring Adma in 2006. “We were able to materialize a great ideal, which is helping underprivileged children who did not have the means to get treatment. I would do it all over,” she said, discussing the work done by the hospital she established.
In 2011, Violeta was paid tribute by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce on Arab Immigration Day (March 25), alongside the cardiologist and former Brazilian Health minister Adib Jatene.
On that occasion Violeta said the Arab community in Brazil comprised “many honest working people. We mustn’t think in terms of Syrians or Lebanese, we must think of fraternity. God is one and we must unite,” she asserted.
The Syrian-Lebanese Hospital’s board issued the following statement: “Violeta played a pivotal role in making the Syrian-Lebanese Hospital a landmark in healthcare, as a means to repay Brazilian society for the way it welcomed Syrian and Lebanese immigrants who had come to the country.”
Violeta’s funeral will be held this Tuesday at 3 pm at Cemitério da Consolação (Rua da Consolação, 1,660 – Consolação).
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
