Baron Edmond Adolphe Maurice Jules Jacques de Rothschild or Baron Edmond de Rothschild (30 September 1926 – 2 November 1997) was a French-Swiss banker, the founder of the Edmond de Rothschild Group in 1953. His investments extended to vineyards, yacht racing, farming and hospitality.
Scion of the Rothschild banking family of France, he was the only son of Maurice and Noémie de Rothschild. He married Nadine Lhopitalier in 1963 with whom he had one child, Benjamin de Rothschild. He was reportedly the richest member of the Rothschild family until his death in 1997. He was the great-great-grandson of Sephardi-Jew of Portuguese descent Jacob Rodrigues Pereira.
Family
The only son of Baron Maurice de Rothschild (1881-1957) and Baroness Noémie de Rothschild (née Halphen; 1888-1968), Edmond Adolphe was born into the Rothschild banking family of France. He was the grandson of Edmond James de Rothschild (1845-1934) and great-grandson of the French branch's founder James Mayer de Rothschild (1792-1868).
Edmond de Rothschild's family was forced to move from France to Switzerland in July 1940, after Maurice de Rothschild, Edmond's father, was declared a noncitizen. Maurice was part of the 80 members of France's Upper House to oppose the pro-Nazi Vichy regime openly, voting against giving full powers to Maréchal Philippe Pétain.
Baron Edmond de Rothschild’s first marriage was with the Bulgarian artist Veselinka Vladova Gueorguieva in 1958. They separated shortly afterwards and the union was dissolved. On June 26, 1963, the Baron married the French actress Nadine Nelly Jeannette Lhopitalier, also known by her stage name as Nadine Tallier, whom he had met in 1960. They had a son, Benjamin Edmond Maurice Adolphe Henri Isaac (1963-2021).
Biography
Banking
Edmond de Rothschild attended the International School of Geneva. He studied at the University of Geneva and at the Faculty of Law in Paris.
Shortly after finishing his studies, Edmond de Rothschild joined the de Rothschild Frères bank where he worked for 3 years. In 1953, he founded his first company, La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild, which became his main investment arm. In 1965, he launched Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild, and developed branches in Lugano (1968), Luxembourg (1969), Fribourg (1989) and Lausanne (1992). In 1969, he established the first hedge fund of funds.
In 1961, after visiting a Club Med vacation center in Israel, the Baron decided to settle the business debt of the company, back then on the brink of bankruptcy, and invest in its development. He owned 34% of Club Med (around 10 million francs worth of shares) which was listed in the Paris stock exchange in 1966. He acquired a major stake in the Bank of California in 1973, for $22 million, establishing it as a holding company for his investments in the United States. He kept his share of the company until 1984, year he sold it at three times its original value to Mitsubishi Bank. In 1976, he was approached by the French businessmen Vincent Bolloré to back him in rebooting his family business. Edmond de Rothschild joined in and left the Bolloré saga in 1981. In 1985, he bought 45% of the French flower retailer Monceau Fleurs. His group held this share until 2001.
Edmond de Rothschild invested heavily in the Tel-Aviv-based Israel General Bank, contributing to the newly-created State of Israel. He later became president of this institution. After the Six-Day War, the Baron contributed to the creation of the Israel Corporation Investment fund when, in 1968, he was invited alongside other wealthy individuals by Israeli Finance Minister Pinchas Sapir to the so-called Millionaire's Conference. Each guest was asked to invest $100,000 in the creation of the Corporation. He also promoted major projects in the country via the Clali Bank, another of his ventures in Israel, which he sold in 1996. The Baron was President of the Caesarea Development Corporation and of the Israel European Company Isrop (in Luxembourg). He contributed to the creation of the Supreme Court building in Jerusalem. and was the founder of multiple cultural and educational institutions in Israel.
In 1982, he acquired a 10% share of his cousin David's new venture, Rothschild & Co. This investment lasted until 2018, after the cousin companies settled a legal dispute over the use of the Rothschild family name. Edmond de Rothschild was also a major shareholder of the Italian bank Banca Tiburtina, and minority shareholder of Banca Privata Solari & Blum in Lugano, Banque de Gestion Edmond de Rothschild in Luxembourg, and the Israel General Bank in Tel-Aviv, as well as investments in De Beers Consolidated Mines.