Jacques Pinto, also called “Jack,” was born in 1896 into one of the wealthiest Sephardi families in Tangier. His father, Moses Pinto, had made a substantial fortune in South America together with his paternal uncles Samuel and Ḥayyim, and had returned to Tangier just two years before his birth. Jacques followed the same path, growing the family’s business by adding finance and real estate to its import/export activities, which extended to Spain, France, Great Britain, Japan, and the United States (where his brother Abraham was his commercial representative).

In addition to acting a…