Ishak Alaton, who served as Chairman of Alarko Holding, one of the largest business conglomerates in Turkey, from 1973 to 15 May 2015, passed away on Sunday, DHA reported.
Born in September 1927 in Istanbul, Alaton attended Şişli Terakki High School until 1942. After graduating from the French Saint Michel High School in 1946, he traveled to Sweden in 1951 and started a career as a weldier at the Motala Locomotive Factory. While working there, Alaton attended night courses to learn technical drawing, and then worked as a draftsman for two years at the same factory.
Alaton returned to Turkey in early 1954 and founded Alarko as an ordinary partnership in a small office of Vefai Han in Karaköy, laying the foundations of Alarko Holding together with Dr. Üzeyir Garih, with only two staff members.
Ishak Alaton was one of the founders of the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) and the Open Society Foundation. He also served as Honorary Consul General of South Africa in Istanbul from 1998 to 2012 and was awarded the Order of the North Star, First Class, by Sweden and the Order of Civil Merit by Spain.