English peer, investment banker and philanthropist (1936–2024)
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From 1963 Rothschild worked at the family bank N M Rothschild & Sons in London, before resigning in 1980 due to a family dispute.[3] The chairmanship of the bank had passed from his father, who had chosen to follow a scientific career and had lost control of the majority voting shares, to his distant cousin Sir Evelyn Robert de Rothschild. He sold his minority stake in the bank, but took independent control of Rothschild Investment Trust (now RIT Capital Partners plc), an investment trust listed on the London Stock Exchange.[5]
Rothschild was Chairman of RIT Capital Partners plc, one of the largest investment trusts quoted on the London Stock Exchange with a net asset value of about £2 billion.[8] He was Chairman of J Rothschild Capital Management, a subsidiary of RIT Capital Partners plc.[9] He also retained many other venture capital and property interests.
In 2003, it was reported that Russian oil industrialist Mikhail Khodorkovsky's shares in YUKOS passed to him under a deal which they had concluded prior to Khodorkovsky's arrest.[14][15]
In November 2010, an entity affiliated with Rothschild purchased a 5% equity interest in Genie Energy, a subsidiary of IDT Corporation, for $10 million.[16][non-primary source needed] In 2013, Israel granted Genie Energy exclusive oil and gas exploration rights to a 153-square mile (396 km2) area in the southern part of the Israeli-occupiedGolan Heights.[17]
Personal life
In 1961, Rothschild married Serena Mary Dunn, a granddaughter of the Canadian financier Sir James Dunn, and they had four children, consisting of three daughters and one son.[18] Lady Rothschild died in 2019.[3] Their four children are:
The Hon. Hannah Mary Rothschild Brookfield (22 May 1962). She married William Brookfield in 1994 and they were divorced. They have three daughters.
The Hon. Beth Matilda Rothschild Tomassini (27 February 1964). She married Antonio Tomassini in 1991 and they were divorced. They have three children.
The Hon. Emily Magda Rothschild Freeman-Attwood (19 December 1967). She married Julian Freeman-Attwood on 25 June 1998. They have two daughters.
Jacob Rothschild, 4th Baron Rothschild, died in London, United Kingdom, on 26 February 2024, at the age of 87.[3][20]
Philanthropy
Jacob Rothschild played a prominent part in Arts philanthropy in Britain. He was Chairman of Trustees of the National Gallery from 1985 to 1991, and from 1992 to 1998, chairman of the National Heritage Memorial Fund. In the 1990s, he was chairman of the Heritage Lottery Fund, responsible for distributing the proceeds of the National Lottery to the heritage sector, an influential post which oversaw the distribution of £1.2 billion in grants.[1]
Rothschild was especially active in the project to restore Somerset House in London, for which he helped secure the Gilbert Collection and ensured the long-term future of the Courtauld Institute of Art. As a private project, he carried out the restoration of Spencer House, one of the finest surviving 18th century London townhouses, adjacent to his own offices.[27]
In 1993 he joined with John Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Preston Candover, to set up the Butrint Foundation[28] to record and conserve the archaeological site of Butrint in Albania, close to his holiday home on Corfu. Rothschild remained Chairman of the Butrint Foundation up until his death.[29]
Jacob Rothschild also followed the Rothschild family's charitable interests in Israel and was the chairman of Yad Hanadiv, the family foundation which gave the Knesset and the Supreme Court buildings to Israel between 1989 and 2018. He was also president of The Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe,[30] and Patron and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Rothschild Foundation.[31] In addition, he was the Honorary President of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research.[32]
In 1988 he inherited from his aunt Dorothy de Rothschild, the Waddesdon and Eythrope estates in Buckinghamshire, and began a close association with Waddesdon Manor, the house and grounds which were built by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in the 1880s and bequeathed to the National Trust in 1957 by his distant cousin, James A. de Rothschild. He was a major benefactor of the restoration of Waddesdon Manor through a private family charitable trust and, in an unusual arrangement, had been given authority by the National Trust to run Waddesdon Manor as a semi-independent operation.[34] The cellars at Waddesdon Manor house his personal collection of 15,000 bottles of Rothschild wines dating as far back as 1870.[citation needed]
Open to the public, Waddesdon attracted over 466,000 visitors in 2018,[35] with 157,000 visiting the house in 2015.[36] Waddesdon has won many awards over the last 20 years, including Visit England's "Large Visitor Attraction of the Year" category in 2017,[37] Museum of the Year Award and Best National Trust Property.[38]
Rothschild commissioned the 2015 RIBA Award winner Flint House[39] on the Waddesdon Manor estate in Buckinghamshire. Rothschild donated the property to the Rothschild Foundation which manages the rest of the estate for the National Trust.
1st (centre): issuant from a Ducal Coronet Or an Eagle displayed Sable; 2nd (dexter): out of a Ducal Coronet Or between open Buffalo Horns per fess Or and Sable a Mullet of six points Or; 3rd (sinister): out of a Ducal Coronet Or three Ostrich Feathers the centre one Argent the exterior ones Azure
Escutcheon
Quarterly: 1st, Or an Eagle displayed Sable langued Gules; 2nd and 3rd, Azure issuing from the dexter and sinister sides of the shield an Arm embowed proper grasping five Arrows points to the base Argent; 4th, Or a Lion rampant proper langued gules; over all an Escutcheon Gules thereon a Target the point to the dexter proper
Supporters
Dexter: a lion rampant Or Sinister: a unicorn Argent
Motto
Concordia, Integritas, Industria (Latin for Unity, Integrity, Industry)
See also
Nathaniel Rothschild, his youngest child and only son, who inherited his barony and baronetcy
^Victoria Talbot, 'Second Annual J. Paul Getty Medal Goes to Lord Rothschild', The Beverly Hills Courier, July 25, 2014, Volume XXXXVIIII Number 30, p. 21 "Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 10 August 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^Kidd, Charles; Collins, David; Williamson, Lydia (assistant), eds. (2000). Debrett's peerage and baronetage : comprises information concerningthe Royal Family, the peerage and baronetage. London: Debrett's Peerage Limited. p. 1435. ISBN9780333545775.