The president of the Jerusalem Foundation, Shai Doron, has died suddenly at the age of 63 in London.

The Foundation said it was “heartbroken” to share the news that Doron had passed away unexpectedly.

A spokesman for the foundation said: “Shai has been our leader and our inspiration for the last six years as president of the Jerusalem Foundation. Many of us have come to know him personally and to admire and appreciate his energy, passion and devotion for people and for Jerusalem. His loss will be deeply felt. We wish to express our deepest condolences to Shai’s family and to all his friends and loved ones. He will be greatly missed.”

Doron spent much of his life working for Jerusalem. At the age of 25 he led the local community center in Neveh Yaakov, where he established a unit of the Scouts.

In a interview with the Jerusalem Post in May last year he described how at the time Neveh Ya’acov was completely isolated – geographically and demographically.

He said he was pleased that people that he helped early on in his career had gone on have important careers and contributed to betterment of Israel.

He said his time there taught him about the importance of diversity.

He went on to secure a coveted position with legendary Mayor Teddy Kollek, leading his office for five years. In May 2023 he told the Jerusalem Post: “I was never part of the private sector. I always worked for civil society.”

Doron said in the five years he worked with Kollek he learned “more than when I went to the Kennedy School of Government or to Harvard. The time I spent with Teddy was the best school ever.”

He went on to run the newly founded Tisch Zoological Gardens and turned it into the most visited site in all of Israel. He became the president of the Jerusalem Foundation in 2018. It was set up by Kollek in 1966 to raise funds for the city and is its leading grant-maker for cultural and communal projects.

The foundation’s  UK chairman Lord Leigh paid tribute to his colleague who “has always been a Jerusalemite and he has been a devoted servant of his beloved city.

“He believed in a shared city in which diversity is strength and all communities have the opportunity to thrive. He believed in leadership and building the next generation of young leaders.

“And he led by example, always the first to carry the message of hope that Jerusalem represents to people around the world and in his beloved hometown.”