Benjamin de Rothschild | |
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| Born | Benjamin Edmond Maurice Adolphe Henri Isaac de Rothschild[1] (1963-07-30)30 July 1963 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France |
| Died | 15 January 2021(2021-01-15) (aged 57) Pregny-Chambésy, Switzerland |
| Education | Pepperdine University |
| Occupation | Banker |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
| Parent(s) | Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild (1926–1997) Nadine Lhopitalier (b. 1932) |
Benjamin de Rothschild (30 July 1963 – 15 January 2021) was a Frenchbanker, the owner of theEdmond de Rothschild Group from 1997 until his death in 2021. He was the son ofEdmond Adolphe andNadine de Rothschild. He was married toAriane de Rothschild. In 2001, he created the professional offshore sailing racing team Gitana Team.
In 2021,Forbes estimated his fortune was worth $1.4 billion.[2]
Benjamin de Rothschild was a seventh-generation descendant of the dynasty founderMayer Amschel.[3] He was the great-grandson ofEdmond James de Rothschild andAdelheid von Rothschild, the grandson ofMaurice de Rothschild andNoémie Halphen, and the only child ofEdmond Adolphe andNadine (née Lhopitalier) de Rothschild.[4] His father was from a Jewish family and his motherconverted to Judaism. He was also the great-great-great-grandson of Sephardi-Jew ofPortuguese descentJacob Rodrigues Pereira, being son ofEdmond Adolphe and grandson ofNoémie de Rothschild.
Benjamin Edmond Maurice Adolphe Henri Isaac de Rothschild[1] was born inNeuilly-sur-Seine[5] on 30 July 1963.[6] He studied at the SwissInstitut Florimont and held a BA in Business Management fromPepperdine University.[3]
After his graduation, de Rothschild worked in family-owned banks in California.[3] In 1989, he returned to Europe, worked for a while atBritish Petroleum inLondon, and then launched the Compagnie de Trésorerie Benjamin de Rothschild, specializing in advanced financial risk management.[1][7]
After the death of his father in 1997, de Rothschild succeeded him as chairman of the Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild.[8] He restructured the group's organization around key activities such as asset management andmergers and acquisitions.[9] In 1999, he launched Edmond de Rothschild Investment Services inIsrael[10] where he also succeeded his father at the helm of theCaesarea Rothschild Foundation.[11] In 2010, Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild became theEdmond de Rothschild Group.[12]
In March 2015, de Rothschild named his wifeAriane de Rothschild CEO of the group, and chairwoman of the executive committee.[13] In 2016, all the lifestyle-oriented assets of the group were reorganized under theEdmond de Rothschild Heritage label.[14] In March 2019, the Benjamin de Rothschild family made the Edmond de Rothschild Group 100% privately owned. The group's French bank was consolidated within the Swiss bank which subsequently became the group's main holding structure. Ariane de Rothschild became chairman of the new group.[15][16]
In 2000, Benjamin de Rothschild purchased the 62-foot (19 m)Elf Aquitaine and founded the professional sailing team Gitana Team, walking in the footsteps of his family's traditions, but eventually expanding it to multihull sailboats.[17][18] The team's firsttrimaran was theGitana IX (formerElf Aquitaine), followed by theGitana X, entirely developed by the team.[19] TheGitana 11 won theRoute du Rhum in 2006.[18]
In 2015, the team mounted foiling dagger boards and T-rudders on a Multi One Design 70 ft to make it "fly" over water, after a decision a year earlier to build a new, state-of-the-art yacht.[20] On 17 July 2017, the 32×23-meter Maxi Edmond de Rothschild (Gitana 17) was introduced, the offshore racing's first maxi-multihull designed to fly in the open ocean.[21] It was decorated by the street artistCleon Peterson.[22] The Maxi won the 48th edition of the RolexFastnet Race in August 2019, breaking the record set in 2011 byLoïck Peyron (Banque Populaire V)[23] and the Brest Atlantiques in December 2019 (skippersCharles Caudrelier-Franck Cammas for both races).[24]
Benjamin de Rothschild inherited theChâteau Clarke wine estate purchased by his father in 1973. He renovated the fermentation room[25] and hired theoenologistMichel Rolland in 1998 to perfect the Château's vines and supervise the family's new vineyard ventures inSouth Africa andArgentina.[26][27]
In 1997, Benjamin de Rothschild initiated a joint venture withAnton Rupert to create theRupert & Rothschild Vignerons vineyards in South Africa.[28] He gathered wine enthusiasts (includingLaurent Dassault) to create the wine estateLe Clos de los Siete inArgentina'sUco Valley, producer of theFlechas de los Andes wine.[29] In 2003, he acquired theChâteau des Laurets vineyards in Bordeaux.[30] In 2005, he launchedChampagne Barons de Rothschild with BaronÉric de Rothschild and BaronessPhilippine de Rothschild.[31] In 2009, he launched a joint venture with the Spanish wineryVega Sicilia.[32] In 2012, he acquired 26 hectares (64 acres) of vines in theMarlborough Region ofNew Zealand to produce theRimapere wine.[33] Benjamin de Rothschild was the largest stakeholder in theChâteau Lafite Rothschild wine estate.[34]
The baron and his wife were the owners ofLa Ferme des 30 Arpents in the countryside outside of Paris, which producesbrie de MeauxAOC.[35]
Benjamin de Rothschild hadheroin abuse problems for many years.[36][37] On 23 January 1999, Benjamin de Rothschild marriedAriane Langner. They had four daughters.[3] Ariane de Rothschild is not Jewish and did not convert to Judaism.[38] Benjamin was an avid car collector who boughtFormula 1Ferraris from the official racing team[3] (he was a member of the "F1 Clienti" program[39]) and also owned aFerrari California.[40] He bought the engine of the crashedConcorde (Air France Flight 4590) and commissioned an artist to turn it into a work of art.[41]
His family wealth ranked 22nd onChallenges' 2019 list of French fortunes,[42] 43rd onBilan's 2019 list of Swiss fortunes,[43] and 1349th onForbes' 2019 list of world billionaires.[44] He was considered one of the richest members of theRothschild family.[27] He was the owner of ahôtel particulier on rue de l'Élysée in Paris.[45]
On 15 January 2021, Benjamin de Rothschild suffered aheart attack and died at his home inPregny-Chambésy, Switzerland. He was 57.[46][47] His wifeAriane de Rothschild became the sole manager of the family business.[48]
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