Sunday, October 19, 2008

Biography

Slim was born in Mexico City, Mexico and his father Julián Slim, a Maronite Catholic, immigrated to Mexico City from Lebanon at the age of 14. Julián established a dry goods store called La Estrella del Oriente (Star of the Orient) in 1911 and purchased real estate in downtown Mexico City. He and his wife had six children, of whom Carlos was the youngest boy.

Slim is the surname of Carlos' father Julián, who was called Youssef Salim before moving to Mexico, upon which he changed his first name to Julián and altered his surname to Slim. He officially became Julián Slim Haddad by adding Haddad, his mother's surname, according to the Spanish-language naming customs. In Western, non-Iberian naming conventions, Carlos Slim Helú's name would be Carlos Slim.

Slim studied engineering at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. He married Soumaya Domit in 1967; the couple had six children and were married for 32 years until Domit died of a kidney ailment in 1999.

Like his family, Carlos Slim Helu is a Maronite Catholic

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