The Aga Khan, imam of the Ismailis and head of a major development aid foundation, died Tuesday in Lisbon at the age of 88, his foundation announced.
He was the founder and president of the Aga Khan Development Network, which employs 96,000 people and finances development programmes particularly in Asia and Africa.
“His Highness Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, Aga Khan IV, 49th hereditary Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims and direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), passed away peacefully in Lisbon on 4 February 2025, aged 88, surrounded by his family,” the foundation said on social media.
“The announcement of his designated successor will follow,” it added, regarding who could become the fifth person to hold the post since the 19th century.
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Present in multiple countries, notably in central and southern Asia, Africa and the Middle East, the Ismaili community numbers 12 to 15 million, according to its website.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres described the Aga Khan as “a symbol of peace, tolerance and compassion in our troubled world” following the religious leader’s death.
Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace laureate and education campaigner, said his legacy will “live on through the incredible work he led for education, health and development around the world”.
Born in Geneva on December 13, 1936, the Aga Khan spent his childhood in Kenya. He later returned to Switzerland, attending the exclusive Le Rosey School before going to the United States to study Islamic history at Harvard.
When his grandfather Sir Sultan Mahomed Shah Aga Khan died in 1957, he became the imam of the Ismailis, at the age of 20.
His father was passed over in the line of succession after a tumultuous marriage to American actor Rita Hayworth.
A billionaire owner of yachts and jets, the Aga Khan was a regular on the racetrack and continued the family tradition of breeding thoroughbreds.
The multi-millionaire, perhaps billionaire, also enjoyed a lavish lifestyle, characterised by private jets, a $200 million super-yacht and a private island in the Bahamas.
Estimates of his wealth varied from $800 million to $13 billion, with his money coming from his family inheritance, his horse breeding business and his personal investments in tourism and real estate.
After his father died in May 1960, the Aga Khan initially pondered whether to continue his family’s long tradition of thoroughbred racing and breeding.
But after winning the French owners’ championship in his first season he was hooked.
“I have come to love it,” he said in a 2013 interview with Vanity Fair. “It’s so exciting, a constant challenge. Every time you sit down and breed you are playing a game of chess with nature.”
His stables and riders, wearing his emerald-green silk livery, enjoyed great successes with horses like Sea the Stars, which won the Epsom Derby and the 2,000 Guineas; and Sinndar, which also won the Epsom Derby, the Irish Derby and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in the same year, 2000.
But perhaps his most famous horse was Shergar, which won the Epsom Derby, the Irish Derby and the King George, before being kidnapped in February 1983 from Ireland’s Ballymany stud farm.
He also ploughed a large amount of his inherited wealth into philanthropic projects and was awarded honorary Canadian citizenship for his work on development and “tolerance around the world”.
The Aga Khan also held British and Portuguese citizenship. The Ismaili leadership is based in Lisbon, where there is a significant community.
