Lord Sugar: ‘I recited Kaddish after siblings died from Covid’

Lord Sugar has movingly told how he recited kaddish for his two siblings who died within weeks of each other from Covid.

Two of the businessman’s siblings – Derek and Shirley – passed away shortly after Christmas after catching coronavirus, with Lord Sugar reading the traditional mourning prayer.

However, because the entrepreneur had flown to Australia to film a local version of The Apprentice, he was unable to attend their funerals in person, because of Covid rules.

“These experiences, I know, have been shared by so many across the country in the past 15 months, of all backgrounds and all ages,” he wrote in the Daily Mail.

“Fame, fortune and status have been no barrier to this terrible virus or to the many tens of thousands of lives it has claimed. Surely there are few families left in Britain who have not been affected.”

Lord Sugar has donated a six-figure sum to a campaign for the victims of Covid, writing that a proposed location near St Paul’s Cathedral would be fitting because “while I may be of Jewish heritage, I believe remembrance has no barriers.”

The peer paid tribute to his elder sister, Shirley, as bubbly, while Derek was recalled as a “passionate Tottenham Hotspur fan”. 

The peer recalled how his “close family shared many happy times together,” and movingly spoke about how their loss had been felt keenly by all the family.