Memorial fund is close to £1.5m... thanks to tycoon
THE Remember Me campaign shifted up a gear yesterday thanks to a stunning £100,000 gift from businessman Mohamed Mansour – taking the cash raised by the Mail’s drive past £1million.
Making his pledge, the Egyptian tycoon said he felt ‘privileged and compelled’ to support the multi- faith memorial to Covid victims at St Paul’s Cathedral after seeing the grief caused by the pandemic.
Mr Mansour, who runs his empire from London, said the lasting tribute in the heart of the capital would become a ‘national place to mourn for everyone and for every faith’.
His generosity has seen the total raised since the Mail first launched the fundraising drive smash through the £1million mark.
In addition to the money already collected by the cathedral itself, a total of almost £1.5million has now been pledged towards the £2.3million needed for the memorial.
The permanent memorial will feature a grand oak portico with the words ‘Remember Me’ engraved in several languages and is open to those of all faiths and none.
Inside, a chapel will display screens showing a virtual book of remembrance which it is hoped will bear the names and pictures of those lost – directly or indirectly – to Covid.
Faith leaders from Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Sikh organisations around Britain have already given their support for the space.
Giving his heartfelt backing, Mr Mansour said: ‘I have been moved by the scale of the tragedy of the death toll from Covid and the 130,000 people who have died, the largest toll since the Second World War, grandparents, mothers, fathers and children, must never be forgotten.
‘Running a global business from London my staff and I have seen the pain of grief for so many which is why I and hundreds of Daily Mail readers feel privileged and compelled to donate.’
The businessman oversees his family’s global conglomerate the Mansour Group and founded Man Capital, its UK investment arm which is based in Knightsbridge.
He was forced to help rebuild his family’s fortune after it was lost when Egypt’s then president Gamal Abdel Nasser expropriated his late father Loutfy’s cotton trading company in 1964.
It meant his childhood home was confiscated and his father forced to start from scratch, only to suffer the same fate again in Sudan in the 1970s. Mr Mansour rebuilt the family’s fortune alongside his brothers and today the group has 60,000 employees in 100 countries and recently contributed $11million to support efforts against Covid.
Mr Mansour’s endorsement yesterday followed generous pledges from entrepreneur Matt Moulding, Apprentice star Lord Sugar and philanthropists Sir Michael Hintze and Sir Tom Hunter.
It is hoped the memorial will be ready in time for the second anniversary of the pandemic next March.
‘Moved by the scale of the tragedy’