Cheryl Saban
| Cheryl Saban | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Cheryl Lynn Flor April 30, 1951 San Diego, California, U.S. |
| Religion | Lutheran |
| Spouse(s) |
Ray Lenhart (divorced) Haim Saban (m. 1987) |
| Children |
with Lenhart: —Tifanie Lenhart Chaney —Heidi Lenhart Stills with Saban: —Ness Saban —Tanya Saban |
Cheryl Saban (/səˈbɑːn/; born April 30, 1951) is a philanthropist, advocate for women, and the wife of billionaire entertainment mogul Haim Saban.[1]
Biography
Born Cheryl Lyn Flor,[2] Saban was born and raised[3] in San Diego. Her father worked for the local telephone company. She was raised Lutheran.[1] Cheryl worked as a telephone solicitor, waitressed at a barbecue-pit restaurant, and worked summers as a lifeguard at a Navy training center. She attended San Diego State University.[1] At age 20,[3] Saban married her first boyfriend and had two daughters. The couple moved to San Francisco in 1973 and later to Los Angeles in 1975 where Saban worked as a model.[1] They divorced soon after.[3] She married a second time, to a music promoter, and began a music career, recording her first album in 1978 under the name Flower. In 1979, Playboy included her in a pictorial titled “Disco Queens. She later divorced her second husband and struggled to provide for her children.[1]
In 1986, she accepted a job as an assistant for Israeli-American Haim Saban. Haim was an Egyptian born Jew who was raised in Israel and later moved to France where he became a millionaire selling recordings of television theme music. He moved to Los Angeles in the early 1980s where he licensed music for children’s cartoons. They later married.[1] In 2005, Saban earned a doctorate in psychology.[3] Drawing from her challenged life she authored What is Your Self-Worth? A Woman’s Guide to Validation giving all the proceeds to charity.[1]
In September 2012, President Obama nominated Cheryl to be the U.S. representative to the upcoming session of the United Nations General Assembly.[4][5]
Philanthropy
Through a $10 million donation, Saban established the Women’s Self-Worth Foundation. The foundation will provide micro-financing programs to women in the U.S. and in Israel.[1] Saban is on the board of the Westside Children’s Center where she pledged $250,000 to fund foster-parenting programs.[1] Saban has done nonprofit work with 50 Ways to Save Our Children, CARE USA, Children’s Network International, Mercy Corps, and Plan USA.[4]
Saban is on the board of Trustees of Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, The Los Angeles Free Clinic, and The Marc & Jane Nathanson Mental Health Resource Center at UCLA. Other affiliations she has are The Everychild Foundation, UCLA Santa Monica Rape Treatment Center, Plan International, Women for Women International, Women’s Funding Network, PeaceKeeper Cosmetics, and the Saban Center for Middle East Studies at the Brookings Institution.[3]
Personal life
Saban has been married three times:
- Her first husband was Ray Lenhart, a long-time California disc jockey (under the name Bobby Ocean) for KFRC.[6] They had two daughters: Tifanie Lenhart Chaney (born 1971) and actress Heidi Lenhart Stills (born 1973).[7]
- In 1987,[8] she married her third husband, Israeli-American billionaire Haim Saban, and they had two children through a surrogate (Saban had previously had a hysterectomy): Ness (born 1989) and Tanya (born 1991). Ness was the eighth surrogate-born baby in the world and Tanya was the fortieth.[9] Although Cheryl is Lutheran, she agreed to raise the children Jewish. The family always puts up a Christmas tree and celebrates Shabbat weekly. Saban told the rabbi who married them: "Think of me as a Christian who believes in Judaism.”[1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 The Tablet: "Morphed: Cheryl Saban’s journey from beach bunny to philanthropist" By Allison Hoffman June 17, 2009
- ↑ Saban, Cheryl What Is Your Self-Worth? ISBN 978-1-4019-2603-8 - Publisher: Hay House, Inc. - Publication date: 5/1/2009 | p. 114
- 1 2 3 4 5 Cheryl Saban.com: Biography retrieved October 4, 2012
- 1 2 Politicao 44: "Obama nominates mega-donor Haim Saban's wife to U.N. post" By BYRON TAU September 20, 2012
- ↑ "Major Dem Donor Saban to U.N. Gen. Assembly". Washington Free Beacon. September 19, 2012. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
- ↑ "BOBBY OCEAN'S DETAILED RADIO HISTORY" retrieved July 17, 2013
- ↑ Cheryl Saban website: Dr. Cheryl Saban May 6, 2009
- ↑ Upstart Business Journal: "Haim Saban, Power Ranger' by Amy Wallace August 13, 2008
- ↑ What is Your SELF-WORTH? - A Woman's Guide to Validation By Cheryl Saban retrieved July 17, 2013
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