Yitzhak Navon, who took part in the founding of Israel, served as its fifth president from 1978 to 1983 in a largely ceremonial role, and then returned to politics as a Labor Party legislator and minister of education, died late Friday night at his home here. He was 94.
His father was a descendant of exiles from Spain who came to the city from Turkey in 1670, and his mother’s family arrived from Morocco about 200 years later. Mr. Navon was one of the fading generation of Israeli state builders.
Entering public life immediately after Israel’s establishment in 1948, he began in the foreign service, then served as chief of staff to David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first prime minister, and to Moshe Sharett when he succeeded Ben Gurion.
“With his personality and proficiency in the Arabic language,’’ Mr. Netanyahu added, “he also worked to bridge between Israel and its Arab neighbors, especially Egypt.”
Mr. Navon was also expert in Ladino, the Judeo-Spanish language of the Sephardic Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492, and he strove to preserve Jewish Ladino traditions.
As a writer and playwright Mr. Navon created several acclaimed works dealing with Sephardic heritage, including the musical “Sephardic Garden,” which has been described as “a landmark in Israeli culture.”
Mr. Navon became a unifying figure in a polarized Israel, where ethnic tensions ran rampant between Sephardic Jewish immigrants from North Africa and Asia and the state-founding Ashkenazi elite of European origin.
For many Israelis Mr. Navon was also a man of the people who would shop at the market and chat as easily with the vendors as with heads of state.
Eryn Sanclemente
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/09/world/middleeast/yitzhak-navon-former-israeli-president-dies-at-94.html?ref=world&_r=0
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