Ben-Gurion University of the Negev mourns the loss of its third president, Maj-Gen (Res.) Shlomo Gazit, who passed away yesterday (Thursday).
BGU President Prof. Daniel Chamovitz commented, “We have lost a warrior, commander and one of Israel's founding generation.
Maj-Gen. Shlomo Gazit was an officer in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and director of Military Intelligence from 1974 to 1978. He served as the head of assessment in IDF intelligence before the Six Day War and in 1967 was appointed to lead "The Unit for the Coordination of Operations in the Territories."
During his term as director of Military Intelligence, Gazit participated in the peace talks between Israel and Egypt, and was later instrumental in the preparations for the visit of the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat to Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in 1979
In 1979-1980, he was a Fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, and in 1983 he received his Master's Degree in History from Tel Aviv University.
After his retirement from active military duty, Gazit was elected President of BGU and served from 1981 to 1985.
Above: BGU President Shlomo
Gazit with General Alexander M. Haig, Jr. at the 1982 honorary doctoral degree
ceremony