The media man and chairman of the Israeli Olympic Committee, Alex Giladi, passed away this evening, at the age of 79. Giladi began his career in the media world as a sports reporter for Yedioth Ahronoth, then joined Channel One and in the 1990s founded Keshet Broadcasting.
Giladi was born in 1942 in Tehran, after his parents fled to Iran during World War II. A year later, his family immigrated to Israel and settled in Ramat Hasharon. When he was 22, Giladi joined Yedioth Ahronoth, where he worked in the sports section.
In 1968, Giladi began working in the sports department of Channel One. As part of his work, he was responsible, among other things, for the Eurovision productions in Israel and the final broadcast in which Maccabi Tel Aviv won the European Basketball Cup.
In the 1980s he joined the team of the sports department of the American NBC channel and later progressed to senior positions in the organization. In the 1990s, he founded Keshet Broadcasting and over the years even served as the group’s president.
In 1994, Giladi joined the Israeli Olympic Committee. Giladi’s figure is seen in most of the medal-awarding ceremonies of Israeli athletes at the various Olympics.
In recent years journalists and other women have complained that Giladi harassed and sexually assaulted them, Giladi denied these allegations. Following some of the allegations, Giladi filed a defamation suit, which was closed following a mediation proceeding.
Keshet responded: “Keshet mourns the death of Alex Giladi, a television personality, one of the founders of Keshet, who was the company’s CEO, NBC vice president and member of the International Olympic Committee, a historical broadcaster, visionary and television designer in Israel.
We owe him a lot and mourn his passing. Of blessed memory”.