Edmund Leopold de Rothschild

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Edmund Leopold de Rothschild
Born(1916-01-02)2 January 1916
London, England
Died17 January 2009(2009-01-17) (aged 93)
OccupationFinancier
Height1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Spouse
Elizabeth Edith Lentner
​
​
(m. 1948)​

Major Edmund Leopold de Rothschild

CBE, TD (2 January 1916 – 17 January 2009) was an English financier, a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of England, and a recipient of the Victoria Medal of Honour (VMH), given by the Royal Horticultural Society
.

Life and career

Born in Westminster,

Jewish Infantry Brigade.[5]

In May 1946 Rothschild was demobilised and once back home in England he returned to work at N M Rothschild & Sons. He became a partner, his father having died in 1942, but then had very little experience. Tutored by his uncle

British Newfoundland Development Corporation to undertake mineral exploration in Labrador, Canada and to develop the Churchill Falls
hydro-electric dam.

Over the years he was involved in a number of

New Year Honours 1997 made Rothschild a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Still active into his nineties, he was President of the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women (AJEX). In 1998, he appeared in the Chuck Olin documentary film titled In Our Own Hands
that told the story of the only all-Jewish fighting force in World War II.

Like other members of the Rothschild family, he was an art collector, but the maintenance and development of the Exbury gardens was his most important pastime. From his father, Rothschild inherited Exbury Gardens in Hampshire which had fallen into severe disrepair as a result of the War, and he set about restoring the 200-acre (0.81 km2) gardens. Edmund's expertise became such that in the 1950s and 1960s he served on the Council of the Royal Horticultural Society. In 2001, the American Rhododendron Society in Eugene, Oregon awarded him a citation in appreciation of his many services to the horticultural world. In 2005, the Royal Horticultural Society bestowed on him the Victoria Medal of Honour, the highest accolade in the British gardening world. Rothschild established a charitable trust to manage Exbury Gardens with which his children are involved.

In 1949 he published Window on the World, an account of his world tour of 1937–39.[7] His autobiography was published in 1998.[8]

Private life

On 22 June 1948 Rothschild married Elizabeth Edith Lentner (1923–1980). The couple had the following children:

  1. Katherine Juliette (b. 1949), who married Marcus Agius
  2. Nicholas David (b. 1951)
  3. David Lionel (b. 1955) (twin)
  4. Charlotte Henriette (b. 1955) (twin)

Elizabeth Lentner de Rothschild died in 1980 and Edmund remarried in 1982 to Anne Kitching (1921-2012).

He died in 2009 at the age of 93.[9]

References

  1. ^ Births England and Wales 1837-1983
  2. ^ Obituary: Edmund Leopold de Rothschild, The Independent, 7 February 2009.
  3. ^ Obituary: Edmund Leopold de Rothschild, The Independent, 7 February 2009.
  4. ^ Obituary: Edmund Leopold de Rothschild, The Independent, 7 February 2009.
  5. ^ Obituary: Daily Telegraph
  6. ^ Obituary: Daily Telegraph
  7. ^ Window on the World. London: Peter Davies, 1949.
  8. ISBN 978-0-7195-5471-1
  9. ^ Bloomberg: Edmund de Rothschild, Ex-NM Rothschild Chairman, Dies at Age 93
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