Jacob Rothschild was a financier and philanthropist from the Rothschild banking dynasty who walked away from his family’s empire to forge his own path.
- Died: February 26, 2024 (Who else died on February 26?)
- Details of death: Died at the age of 87.
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Jacob Rothschild’s legacy
Nathaniel Charles Jacob Rothschild, better known simply as Jacob Rothschild, was the oldest son of Victor Rothschild, 3rd Baron Rothschild of the powerful Rothschild banking family. After attending Eton College and Oxford, he worked at N M Rothschild & Sons in London for nearly 20 years before falling out with family when a distant cousin took chairmanship of the firm. He formed his own group, St. James’s Place plc, with financier Sir Mark Weinberg, and he also ran RIT Capital Partners plc and J Rothschild Capital Management Ltd.
Rothschild was a prominent patron of the arts. He chaired the National Gallery in London, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, and the National Heritage Lottery Fund. He managed the Spencer House and Waddesdon Manor, which were restored under his supervision, and he helped form the Butrint Foundation to preserve archeological sites in Albania. He also contributed to or served with the Courtauld Institute of Art, State Hermitage Museum, Pritzker Prize for Architecture, and the Gilbert Collection Trust, among many others.
Rothschild received a wide array of honors, awards, and recognitions throughout his life, including being made a Member of the Order of Merit (OM), being named a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (OBE), winning the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, earning the Kennedy Center’s International Committee Lifetime Achievement Gold Medal in the Arts Award, and being granted the Sir Winston Churchill Award.
Notable quote
“It is a cardinal factor in Jewish life that we must give back and I am deeply conscious of my Jewish roots.”—from a 2019 interview for the Jewish Chronicle, 2019
Tributes to Jacob Rothschild
Full obituary: The New York Times
