Stephen Helmuth Floersheimer (21 March 1925 - 6 April 2011) was a Swiss investment banker, philanthropist and art collector, who founded the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy.

Biography

The son of Walter and Charlotte Floersheimer, he was born in Berlin, and moved to Belgium and then the United States in 1933. After studies at Oxford and training at a bank, he moved with his family to Zurich, Switzerland in 1970. Stephen Floersheimer's 7 Grandchildren include David and Robert Rothschild, Carolyn, Andrew, Andrea, John and Will Floersheimer.

Philanthropist

An avid fighter for justice and democracy he founded the Floersheimer Institute for Policy Studies, since 2007 called the Floersheimer studies, at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1991, publishing studies in the field of society and governance in

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. As an honorary doctorate in humanities from

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universi ...

, he established the Floersheimer Center for Constitutional Democracy at the

Cardozo School of Law The Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law is the law school of Yeshiva University. Located in New York City and founded in 1976, the school is named for Supreme Court Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo. Cardozo graduated its first class in 1979. An LL.M. ...

, for the understanding and improvement of modern democracies. He also founded the Walter Floersheimer Chair for Constitutional Law.

Art collector

In 1989, he took charge of his father's art collection which was periodically exhibited at the UBS headquarters in Zurich. Part of the collection with works by

Raoul Dufy Raoul Dufy (; 3 June 1877 – 23 March 1953) was a French Fauvist painter. He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textile as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He is noted ...

, Camille Corot,

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (, ; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French Post-Impressionist artist. Unappreciated until after his death, Gauguin is now recognized for his experimental use of colour and Synthetist style that were distinct fr ...

Chaïm Soutine Chaïm Soutine (13 January 1893 – 9 August 1943) was a Belarusian painter who made a major contribution to the expressionist movement while living and working in Paris. Inspired by classic painting in the European tradition, exemplified by the ...

and Edgar Degas was donated to the Israel Museum where it is displayed at the Lotte and Walter Floersheimer Gallery for Impressionist Art. His contributions of impressionist works to the collection made it into one of the most important private collections in Switzerland. Displayed at Floersheimer's country estate at the Casa Carlotta,

Orselina Orselina is a municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. History Orselina is first mentioned in 1182 as ''Concilio Meziano''. In 1323 it was mentioned as ''Orsarina''. During the Middle Ages and into the Ea ...

, the collection includes works by

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. Durin ...

: ''Gran canale'' Venice,

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, Georges Braque,

Alfred Sisley Alfred Sisley (; ; 30 October 1839 – 29 January 1899) was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedicatio ...

, Camille Pissarro,

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, nea ...

Oskar Schlemmer Oskar Schlemmer (4 September 1888 – 13 April 1943) was a German painter, sculptor, designer and choreographer associated with the Bauhaus school. In 1923, he was hired as Master of Form at the Bauhaus theatre workshop, after working at the w ...

Juan Gris José Victoriano González-Pérez (23 March 1887 – 11 May 1927), better known as Juan Gris (; ), was a Spanish painter born in Madrid who lived and worked in France for most of his active period. Closely connected to the innovative artistic ge ...

, Fernand Léger and

Alexander Archipenko Alexander Porfyrovych Archipenko (also referred to as Olexandr, Oleksandr, or Aleksandr; uk, Олександр Порфирович Архипенко, Romanized: Olexandr Porfyrovych Arkhypenko; February 25, 1964) was a Ukrainian and American ...

, together with contemporary artists like Maurice Estève, Daniel Garbade,

Gaston Chaissac Gaston Chaissac (1910–1964) was a French painter. An autodidact and son of the French rural working class, he became involved in the art world when he lived next door to Otto Freundlich and Jeanne Kosnick-Kloss in Paris during the 1930s. They sho ...

and . Sculptures by

Aristide Maillol Aristide Joseph Bonaventure Maillol (; December 8, 1861 – September 27, 1944) was a French Sculpture, sculptor, Painting, painter, and printmaking, printmaker.Le Normand-Romain, Antoinette . "Maillol, Aristide". ''Grove Art Online. Oxford ...

and Archipenko are shown in the surrounding gardens. His two ''Arlequins'', works by

, were included in the Juan Gris exhibit at the

Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía The ''Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía'' ("Queen Sofía National Museum Art Centre"; MNCARS) is Spain's national museum of 20th-century art. The museum was officially inaugurated on September 10, 1992, and is named for Queen Sofía. It ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

, 2003.

Sailor

Stephen Floersheimer built his own 36m luxury sail super yacht in 1996, with Terence Disdale acting as a styling consultant. Designed and refitted in 2015 by

Camper & Nicholsons Camper may refer to: * A person who engages in recreational camping * A trailer (vehicle) used for camping: ** Popup camper ** Travel trailer * Truck camper * Recreational vehicle * Campervan * Camping (gaming), a tactic in video gaming. People * ...

, the ''Yanneke Too'' was built using E-glass, Kevlar and epoxy with cedar core for the hull and foam for the deck. He won many races, like the Superyacht Cup in Antigua 2007 with Captain Charles Dwyer at the Helm. During more than 10 years he participated and won several times the ''Puckets Invitational Superyacht Rendez-vou''s.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Floersheimer'Stephen 1925 births 2011 deaths Swiss art collectors Swiss philanthropists