Baruj Benacerraf

Date of Birth: 29 October, 1920

Place of Birth: Caracas, Venezuela

Date of Death: August 2, 2011

Place of Death: Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, U.S.

Ethnicity: Moroccan Jewish, Algerian Jewish

Baruj Benacerraf, also known as Baruch, was a Venezuelan-American immunologist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1980, along with Jean Dausset and George Davis Snell, for the “discovery of the Major histocompatibility complex genes which encode cell surface molecules important for the immune system’s distinction between self and non-self.”

He was the son of Henriette and Abraham Benacerraf, a textile merchant. His parents were North African Jews. His father was born in Spanish Morocco. His mother was born in French Algeria. His brother is French-American-Venezuelan philosopher Paul Benacerraf. His family lived in Paris, France, for a time, then moved back to Venezuela, and then New York City, New York, U.S., in 1940.

Baruj was married to Annette Dreyfus, until his death, with whom he had a daughter.

Baruj’s paternal great-grandfather was named Abraham Benacerraf.

Source: Genealogy of Baruj Benacerraf (focusing on his father’s side) – https://www.geni.com