Jacob Rothschild, the British banker, philanthropist and investor, of the well-known Rothschild dynasty, has died at the age of 87, his family reported this Monday. “Our father, Jacob, was a commanding presence in the lives of many people, a magnificently gifted financier, a leaver of arts and culture, a devoted civil servant, a passionate supporter of charitable causes in Israel and Jewish culture, a enthusiastic environmentalist and a very dear friend, father and grandfather,” his family said in a statement carried by the British news agency Press Associated.
The family notes in the note that he will be buried “according to Jewish custom in a small family ceremony and there will be a remembrance service at a later date to celebrate his life.” The banking family has an estimated fortune of about 825 million pounds (964 million euros), according to the list of the richest published last year by ‘The Sunday Times’. In addition, the family donates around 66 million pounds (77 million euros) of its fortune to Jewish causes such as education or art.
A long career
Rothschild was born in the English county of Berkshire and studied at the prestigious Eton College and then studied History at the University of Oxford. He began his banking career at the family-owned NM Rothschild & Sons in 1963, before taking control of the Rothschild Investment Fund and subsequently co-founding the advisory firm J Rothschild Assurance Group (now St James’s Place) along with Mark Weinberg, in 1980.
Until 2019, president of RIT Capital Partners, director of RHJ International – now BHF Kleinwort Benson Group – and was a member of the council of the Duchy of Cornwall when the current monarch Charles III was Prince of Wales.
In the world of culture, Rothschild was chairman of the trustees of the National Gallery in London and also served as chairman of the National Lottery Legacy Fund. Rotchschild was portrayed by renowned artists such as Lucian Freud and David Hockney and, among many other duties, he chaired the Windmill Hill Asset Management Fund to manage his family’s philanthropic portfolio.
Personally, he was married for more than 50 years to his wife Serena, who passed away in 2019, and with whom he had four children: Hannah, Beth, Emily and Nat, and many grandchildren.
