In recognition of her generous spirit and noble philanthropy that have led her to translate a deep love for the arts into support that enables them to flourish; her devoted concern for the wellbeing and development of the Weizmann Institute of Science; and for sharing her joy and talent for music to soothe, entertain, and delight.
Miel de Botton is a clinical psychologist, a contemporary art collector, a munificent philanthropist, and a singer-songwriter. Each of these seemingly disparate strands is infused with her ability to connect deeply with other people and turn that connection into a positive force for transformation.
Born in 1968 in Zurich to a Jewish Sephardic family, she is the daughter and granddaughter of largerthan- life figures. Her Egyptian-born grandmother, Yolande Harmer, was a spy who socialized with and covered, as a journalist, the upper echelons of Cairo, collecting military secrets on behalf of pre- State Israel. She was imprisoned for her activity and later left Egypt, settling in Israel with her son Gilbert de Botton in the 1950s. Gilbert was to become a brilliant financier, an overwhelmingly generous philanthropist, and a connoisseur of contemporary art, who spoke nine languages.
Miel de Botton studied law at Oxford University and psychology in Paris, where she worked as a clinical psychologist in family therapy and drug addiction counseling for six years. Her father died the day she was due to return to London with her family. His sudden passing, just as he was introducing his daughter to his philanthropy, why and how he supported different causes, was an unexpected blow. Giving up her job at the Tavistock Mental Health Trust to administer his estate, she followed his lead while defining her own path.
Like her father before her, de Botton is an avid supporter of the Weizmann Institute of Science, where she has endowed the de Botton Institute for Protein Profiling at the Nancy and Stephen Grand Israel National Center for Personalized Medicine. With its world-class infrastructure and multidisciplinary collaborations, the de Botton Institute’s research is expected to lead to medically applicable discoveries. More recently, she established the de Botton Center for Marine Science, in support of Israeli scientists’ study of the oceans, and, in particular, the Mediterranean Sea.
Three years ago, de Botton realized a secret dream when she launched a career in music. Released last March to considerable acclaim, her first album, Magnetic, featured songs her father sang to her as a child, beloved French chansons, and her own compositions, in which she aims to share human emotion.