Baron James Gustave Jules Alain de Rothschild (7 January 1910 – 17 October 1982) was a French banker and philanthropist.

Early life

Alain de Rothschild was born on 7 January 1910 in Paris, France. His father was Baron

Robert de Rothschild Robert Philippe Gustave de Rothschild (19 January 1880 – 25 December 1946) was a French banker, philanthropist and polo player. Early life Robert de Rothschild was born on 19 January 1880 in Paris, France.

, who was a banker. His mother was Gabrielle Nelly Régine Beer. He was a member of the Rothschild family. Alain de Rothschild studied at the École libre des Sciences politiques where he graduated in 1931. During World War II, he was sent to a detention camp.

Career

He started his career at Rothschild Freres, later known as Banque Rothschild, a family investment bank, in 1946. He owned 25%. He was the Chairman of the Investment Society of the North, the Society of Petroleum Investors, the Company of the North and the Discount Bank of France, all of which are owned by the Rothschild family. He was a co-owner of

Château Lafite Rothschild Château Lafite Rothschild is a French wine estate of Bordeaux wine, located in Pauillac in France, owned by members of the Rothschild family since the 19th century, and rated as a First Growth under the 1855 Bordeaux Classification. Lafite ...

, a wine estate in

Pauillac Pauillac (; oc, Paulhac) is a municipality in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. The city is mid-way between Bordeaux and the Pointe de Grave, along the Gironde, the largest estuary in western Europe. Populati ...

which produces

Bordeaux wine Bordeaux wine ( oc, vin de Bordèu, french: vin de Bordeaux) is produced in the Bordeaux region of southwest France, around the city of Bordeaux, on the Garonne River. To the north of the city the Dordogne River joins the Garonne forming the ...

Philanthropy

He served as the President of the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

from 1954 to 1982, and the French Consistory from 1967 to 1982. He served as the Chairman of the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France from 1976 to 1982. In 1973, he became president of the Fondation Rothschild. His foundation, the Institut Alain de Rothschild, was shut down in 1995. In the aftermath of the

1980 Paris synagogue bombing The 1980 Paris synagogue bombing (also called the Rue Copernic attack) occurred on 3 October 1980 when the rue Copernic synagogue in Paris, France was bombed. The attack killed four and wounded 46 people. The bombing took place in the evening nea ...

, he suggested French politicians did not care about what had happened, and questioned "the inexplicable impotence" of the

French police Law enforcement in France has a long history dating back to AD 570 when night watch systems were commonplace.Dammer, H. R. and Albanese, J. S. (2014). ''Comparative Criminal Justice Systems'' (5th ed.). Wadesworth Cengage learning: Belmont, ...

. Through the CRIF, he negotiated with President Giscard d'Estaing for increased police forces to keep synagogues safe, and set up tactics to influence the outcome of the

1981 French presidential election Presidential elections were held in France on 26 April 1981, with a second round on 10 May. François Mitterrand defeated incumbent president, Valery Giscard d'Estaing to become the first Socialist president of the Fifth Republic. In the first ...

. He spoke out against the

Goldenberg restaurant attack The Chez Jo Goldenberg restaurant attack was a bombing and shooting attack on a Jewish restaurant in the Parisien district of Marais on 9 August 1982 carried out by the Palestinian militant Abu Nidal Organization, a group that splintered fro ...

, also in Paris, shortly before his death.

Honors

* Officer of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

* Croix de Guerre

Personal life

He married Mary Chauvin du Treuil on 26 January 1938. They had three children: # Béatrice Juliette Ruth de Rothschild (1939–), married to Armand Angliviel de la Beaumelle ( 1962, 1962) and

Pierre Rosenberg Pierre Max Rosenberg (born 13 April 1936) is a French art historian, curator, and professor. Rosenberg is the honorary president a director of the Musée du Louvre in Paris, and since 1995, he has held the 23rd seat of the Académie Française. H ...

( 1981). #

Éric de Rothschild Baron Éric Alain Robert David de Rothschild (born 3 October 1940) is a French banker. Early life Éric de Rothschild was born on 3 October 1940 in New York City.Antoine FouchetÉric de Rothschild plaide pour « l’enseignement de la Shoah » '' ...

(1940–), married to Maria-Beatrice Caracciolo Di Forino ( 1983) # Robert de Rothschild (1947–), married to Debra Elisa Cohen ( 1999, 2001) In 2006, his daughter Béatrice sold part of his rare books collection with the auction house

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

Death

When President François Mitterrand was elected in 1981, Rothschild moved to New York City. A year later he died there of a heart attack on 17 October 1982 at the

Lenox Hill Hospital Lenox Hill Hospital (LHH) is a nationally ranked 450-bed non-profit, tertiary, research and academic medical center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, servicing the tri-state area. LHH is one of the region's many unive ...

on the

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

. His funeral took place in Paris, where he was buried.

Legacy

The ''Fondation Rothschild – Institut Alain de Rothschild'', named in his honour, funds housing for those in need as well as Jewish causes.Fondation Rothschild - Institut Alain de Rothschild
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rothschild, Alain de 1910 births 1982 deaths French bankers French philanthropists 20th-century French Jews Businesspeople from Paris Alain