Joseph Ciechanover

Joseph Ciechanover
Ciechanover in 1991
Born	(1933-10-01)1 October 1933 Haifa, Mandatory Palestine
Died	17 September 2024(2024-09-17) (aged 90)
Nationality	Israeli
Occupation(s)	Diplomat, public servant
Known for	Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel
Relatives	Aaron Ciechanover (brother)
Awards	French Legion of Honour Pentagon's Medal for Distinguished Service Israel Prize for lifetime achievement (2021)

Joseph Ciechanover (Hebrew: יוסף צ'חנובר; 1 October 1933 – 17 September 2024) was an Israeli diplomat and public servant who was Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He represented Israel at the UN Gaza Flotilla Panel. He was a recipient of the French Legion of Honour award as well as the Pentagon's Medal for Distinguished Service, had served as President of Challenge Funds, Chairman of the Board of Israel Discount Bank and as a member of the Bank of Israel Advisory Committee.

Ciechanover was Head of Israel's Defense Mission to the United States and Canada, and General Counsel to the Israel Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Agriculture. In 2021 he received the Israel Prize for lifetime achievement and contribution to Society and the state.

Life and career

Ciechanover was born in Haifa to Yitzhak, a lawyer, and Bluma, an English teacher. His parents immigrated to Israel from Poland in the early 1930s and settled in Haifa. He grew up in the Hadar HaCarmel neighborhood. His younger brother is Nobel Laureate Prof. Aaron Ciechanover. In the 1950s and early 1960s, he studied at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in three fields: education, law and business administration.

From 1960 to 1968, he was a lecturer in agricultural and administrative law at the Faculty of Agriculture of the Hebrew University of Rehovot. From 1966 to 1967 he studied law at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1991 he received a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Jewish Studies from Boston University.

Ciechanover died on 17 September 2024, at the age of 90.