Maurice Tempelsman, the influential diamond merchant who became Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ last romantic partner, died Saturday from complications following a fall. He was 95.

Tempelsman’s death was confirmed by his son, Leon, to the New York Times , just days before what would have been his 96th birthday on Aug. 26.

Tempelsman’s connection to the Kennedy family began during the 1960 presidential campaign when he arranged a meeting between President-elect John F. Kennedy, his wife, Jacqueline, and African mining officials, PEOPLE said.

The following year, Tempelsman and his wife, Lilly Burkos, attended a state dinner where he and the First Lady briefly conversed in French, sparking a friendship that would endure for decades.

Born in 1929 in Antwerp, Belgium to an Orthodox Jewish f

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