Jacob Rothschild has died aged 87, a banker and philanthropist who left the family bank to build his own financial empire in the City of London, Bloomberg reports.
Rothschild’s family confirmed his death in a statement to the Press Association. A cause of death has not been given yet. The family said in the statement:
Our father Jacob was a towering presence in many peoples’ lives – a superbly accomplished financier, a champion of the arts and culture, a devoted public servant, a passionate supporter of charitable causes in Israel and Jewish culture, a keen environmentalist and much-loved friend, father and grandfather.
Rothschild left N.M. Rothschild & Sons Ltd. in 1980 to run Rothschild Investment Trust after leaving the family firm over disputes about its direction. The business that emerged from it – now known as RIT Capital Partners Plc – is one of Britain’s largest investment trusts with net assets of 3.5 billion pounds ($4.4 billion) as of the end of November.
Rothschild was also one of the UK’s leading philanthropists. He chaired the boards of the National Gallery and the National Heritage Lottery Fund.
A noted art collector, he restored Spencer House in London and oversaw a five-year restoration of Waddesdon Manor, a 19th-century country house in Buckinghamshire built by one of his many wealthy ancestors, from 1990 to 1995.
Rothschild also followed the example of other members of his extended family and became involved in philanthropy in Israel. He was chairman of the family foundation Yad Hanadiv, which gave the Knesset and Supreme Court buildings to the nation.
In 2002, Queen Elizabeth II honoured him with the Order of Merit. This order is awarded for services to the arts, education, literature and science, and is limited to 24 in the United Kingdom.
Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild was born on 28 April 1936. Educated at Eton College and Oxford University, he became a partner in N.M. Rothschild & Sons four years after joining the family bank in 1959 and became head of its corporate finance department.
He belonged to the seventh generation of the banking dynasty started by Mayer Amschel Rothschild, a rare coin dealer born in 1744 who advised German aristocrats on their finances. He sent his sons to major European cities to do business with money-starved governments. Nathan Mayer Rothschild was the first to travel abroad, arriving on English shores in the late 18th century.
Nathan founded his eponymous bank in 1810 and became famous for financing Britain’s military operations in the Napoleonic Wars. Some 150 years later, Jacob faced opposition in his attempts to expand the bank’s services from his father Victor and cousin Evelyn, who succeeded Victor as chairman of N.M. Rothschild & Sons Ltd. in 1976.
