Here's a look at the life of former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Personal: Birth date: February 26, 1928

Birth name: Ariel Scheinerman

Birthplace: Kfar Malal, Palestine.

Father: Samuil (Shmuel in Hebrew) Scheinerman, an agronomist and artist

Mother: Vyera (Schneeroff) Scheinerman, a medical student before marriage

Marriages: Lili Yehuda (1963 - March 25, 2000, her death); Margalit Yehuda - (March 29, 1953 - May 1962, her death)

Children: with Lili: Omri, 1964 (male); Gilad, 1967 (male); with Margalit: Gur (December 28, 1956 - October 4, 1967, male)

Education: Hebrew University, 1952-1953, 1962; Staff College, Camberley, England, 1957-1958; Tel Aviv University, law degree, 1966

Military: Israeli Defense Service, 1948-1973, 1974-1976

Other Facts: Nickname is Arik.

The Sharon Plain (also Plain of Sharon) is the region where he grew up.

His second wife, Lili, was the younger sister of his first wife, Margalit.

Sharon opposed Israel's 1993 signing of a peace accord with the PLO in Washington, D.C.

One thousand security officers provided protection when Sharon visited Temple Mount in the Old City section of Jerusalem in 2000.

The 2001 special election for prime minister had the lowest voter turnout and the largest margin of victory in Israeli history (62.5%).

Timeline: 1945 - Graduates from high school in Tel Aviv. Joins the British Jewish Police and begins covert work for the Haganah.

1947 - Becomes an instructor in the Haganah and teaches the police units that are assigned to protect Kibbutzim around Palestine.

1952 - Is discharged from the army and enrolls at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem to study Middle Eastern history. He remains a battalion commander in the reserves.

July 1953 - Returns to the army, establishes the elite commando group, Unit 101, and begins leading retaliatory raids into Jordan.

1958-1967 - Rising through the ranks of the Israeli Defense Force, Sharon is promoted from major to colonel, to brigade commander of the Armored Corps, to chief of staff of the Southern Command, to major general of the Army.

June 5-11, 1967 - During the Six-Day War, he commands troops on the Egyptian front who recapture the Mitla Pass.

July 1973 - Resigns from the ISD and retires after 25 years.

October 6, 1973 - The Yom Kippur War begins and Sharon is called out of retirement as head of the Army's Armored Reserve Division.

1974 - Is elected to the Knesset.