Guy de Rothschild
Guy de Rothschild | |
---|---|
Born | Paris, France | 21 May 1909
Died | 12 June 2007 Paris, France | (aged 98)
Education | Lycée Condorcet Lycée Louis-le-Grand |
Occupation(s) | Soldier, financier, philanthropist, racehorse owner/breeder |
Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
Board member of |
|
Spouses | Alix Hermine Schey de Koromla
(m. 1937; div. 1956) |
Children | With Schey de Koromla:
With van Zuylen van Nyevelt: Stepdaughters:
|
Parent(s) | Croix de Guerre |
Baron Guy Édouard Alphonse Paul de Rothschild (pronounced
Early life and education
Baron Guy de Rothschild was born in Paris, the son of Baron Édouard de Rothschild (1868–1949) and his wife, the former Germaine Alice Halphen (1884–1975). He has three siblings. Guy's elder brother, Édouard Alphonse Émile Lionel (1906–1911), died at the age of four of appendicitis;[2] he also had two younger sisters, Jacqueline and Bethsabée. Half of his great-grandparents were Rothschilds. He was a great-great grandson of the German patriarch of the Rothschild family Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1743–1812), who founded the family's banking in the 18th century in Frankfurt, Germany.
He grew up at his parents' townhouse on the corner of the
He was educated at the Lycée Condorcet and Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, and by private tutors. He undertook military service with the cavalry at Saumur, and played golf for France. He won the Grand Prix de Sud-Ouest in 1948.
Personal life
Guy de Rothschild married twice:
- In 1937, he married a distant cousin, Baroness Alix Hermine Jeanette Schey de Koromla (1911–1982). Alix was the former wife of Kurt Krahmer and the younger daughter of Baron Philipp Schey von Koromla. They had one child, David René de Rothschild (born 1942). Rothschild also raised his wife's daughters from her prior marriage to Krahmer, Lili and Bettina. They divorced in 1956.
- In 1957, he married Roman Catholic. They had one child, Baron Édouard de Rothschild(born 1957).
After his second marriage, Guy de Rothschild renovated the Château de Ferrières, using it to put on lavish balls in the early 1970s, before donating it to the University of Paris in 1975. The same year, he bought the Hôtel Lambert on the Île Saint-Louis in Paris, the top floors of which became his Paris residence.
Service in World War II
In 1940, as a result of the
Under the
Banking and business
Guy de Rothschild studied law at university then joined
At the end of World War II, Guy de Rothschild returned to the bank's offices at rue Laffitte in Paris in 1944. On his father's death in 1949, Guy de Rothschild took formal control of the business. Years later, Rothschild was on the cover of the 20 December 1963 issue of Time magazine in a story that said he took "over the family's French bank during the disorder of war and defeat, changed its character from stewardship of the family fortune to expansive modern banking."
Following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, Guy de Rothschild served as a director of the
Imetal S.A.
In France, Rothschild developed the country's largest private uranium mining company, the Compagnie Française des Minerais d'Uranium. In 1961, Guy de Rothschild took over as Chairman of
Nationalization
In the early 1970s the government of France began nationalizing a number of industries and after declaring nickel to be a vital market commodity, SLN's assets were nationalized in 1974 and placed under a new company, Société Metallurgique. The result left the Rothschild's SLN as a holding company with a fifty percent interest in Société Metallurgique.
When the Rothschild's bank was nationalized in 1982 by the socialist government of
Thoroughbred racing
Guy de Rothschild was a renowned breeder of
Guy de Rothschild chaired the association of racehorse breeders in France from 1975 to 1982.
Among the major races Guy de Rothschild's horses won were:[4]
- Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe – (1) – Exbury (1963)
- Grand Critérium – (4) – Dragon Blanc (1952), Le Géographe (1953), Soleil (1965), Mariacci (1974)
- Grand Prix de Paris – (4) – Vieux Manoir (1950), White Label (1964), Soleil Noir (1979), Le Nain Jaune (1982)
- Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud – (3) – Ocarina (1950), Violoncelle (1951), Exbury (1963)
- Poule d'Essai des Poulains – (3) – Guersant (1952), Cobalt (1953), Soleil (1966)
- Poule d'Essai des Pouliches – (2) – Dictaway (1955), Timandra (1960)
- Prix de Diane – (3) – Cerisoles (1957), Timandra (1960), Hermières (1961)
- Prix Ganay – (4) – Guersant (1953), Exbury (1963), Free Ride (1965), Diatome (1966)
- Prix Jacques le Marois– (3) – La Bamba (1964), Luthier (1968), Kenmare (1978)
- Prix Jean Prat – (2) – Tang (1962), Lightning (1977)
- Prix Morny – (2) – Soleil (1965), Madina (1967)
- Prix Royal-Oak – (3) – Ciel, oilé (1949), Barbieri (1964), Lady Berry (1973)
- Prix Saint-Alary – (2) – Scala (1965), Grise Mine (1984)
- Prix Vermeille – (3) – Haltilala (1966), Paysanne (1972, dead-heat), Indian Rose (1988)
Art collector
The French Rothschild family had long been collectors of art beginning with
Philanthropy
In 1950, Guy de Rothschild became the first president of the Fonds Social Juif Unifié (FSJU) (United Jewish Welfare Fund), a federation of about 200 Jewish social, educational, and cultural associations. He headed the FSJU until 1982 at which time his son, David, assumed its leadership. The FSJU played a large part in restructuring the French Jewish community following World War II. After marrying Marie-Hélène van Zuylen de Nyevelt de Haar, a Roman Catholic, in 1957 Guy felt compelled to resign the Presidency of the Jewish Consistory, the organization created in 1905 to represent French Jewry.[5]
In 1975, Rothschild and his wife donated the Château de Ferrières to the University of Paris.
Death
Widowed in 1996, Guy de Rothschild died in 2007.[6]
Works
- The Whims of Fortune: The Memoirs of Guy de Rothschild by Guy de Rothschild. ISBN 978-2-7144-1550-9
- The relationship between business and government in France (Benjamin F. Fairless memorial lectures) by Guy de Rothschild. Carnegie-Mellon University press (1983). ASIN: B0006YDWD2
- Le fantôme de Léa: Roman (French) by Guy de Rothschild. Plon (1998). ISBN 978-2-259-18863-0
- Mon ombre siamoise (French) by Guy de Rothschild. Grasset (1993). ISBN 978-2-246-47071-7
See also
References
- ^ Vanity Fair Archived 1 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Whims of Fortune: The Memoirs of Guy de Rothschild
- ^ "Les Rothschild, rois des banquiers". L'Express. 19 December 2007.
- ^ "All the races". www.france-galop.com. Archived from the original on 18 February 2012.
- ^ "Guy Edouard Alphonse Paul de Rothschild (1909–2007) | Rothschild Family".
- ^ Lewis, Paul (14 June 2007). "Baron Guy de Rothschild, Leader of French Arm of Bank Dynasty, Dies at 98". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 July 2008.
Further reading
- Head of French banking family dies
- Obituary, The Daily Telegraph, 14 June 2007.
- Obituary, The Times, 15 June 2007.
- Obituary, The Independent, 18 June 2007.
- Obituary, The New York Times, 14 June 2007.