The news about the death of Jacob Rothschild, who died at the age of 87, went around the world.
Rothschild was born in Berkshire (England) in 1936 as the eldest child of the 3rd Baron Victor Rothschild and Barbara Judith Rothschild.
His father was Jewish, and his mother converted to Orthodox Judaism when she married Viktor.
He attended Eton College and was then educated at Oxford, where he was a member of the elite Bullingdon Club, reserved mainly for the children of the wealthy. The club is known for lavish receptions and numerous incidents of its members in various restaurants.
Rothschild began his career in 1963 at the family bank N M Rothschild & Sons in London, which he left in 1980 due to family conflicts.
The chairmanship of the bank passed from his father (who decided to pursue a scientific career and lost control of the majority voting share), to his distant cousin Sir Evelyn Robert de Rothschild.
Jacob sold his minority stake in the bank but took independent control of Rothschild Investment Trust (now RIT Capital Partners plc), a London-listed investment trust with net assets of around £2bn.
After resigning from his position at the bank, Rothschild unsuccessfully tried to buy the world’s second largest tobacco corporation, British American Tobacco, together with James Goldsmith and Kerry Parker in 1989.
Two years later, in 1991, he founded his own insurance company (J. Rothschild Assurance Group) with Mark Weinberg.
From November 2003 until his retirement in 2008, he was the deputy chairman of the Board of Directors of BSkyB Television, and until 2008 he was also the director of the investment fund RHJ International.
He was also a member of the Council of the Prince of Wales and a member of the International Advisory Board of the Blackstone Group, which according to economic experts is one of the two largest financial groups that de facto owns the world economy.
Four years ago, for his services in the Duchy of Cornwall (one of the two duchies in England – the other is the Duchy of Lancaster), he was appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) – an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1896.
Before starting work at the family bank, Rothschild married Serena Mary Dean, granddaughter of Canadian millionaire James Dean, in 1961. Serena died in 2019. She gave birth to four children to Rothschild: Hannah Mary, Beth Matilda, Emily Magda and Nathaniel Philip Victor.
In the history of Great Britain, the name of Jacob Rothschild will be remembered for numerous philanthropic activities. Rothschild even set up Windmill Hill Asset Management to manage the family’s philanthropic portfolio, Biznis Info writes.
Photo ©️ REX/Adrian Sherratt
