Daniel David Fiszman (9 January 1945 – 13 April 2011) was an English diamond dealer, best known as a shareholder in and director of

Arsenal Football Club The Arsenal Football Club, commonly known as simply Arsenal, is a professional association football, football club based in London Borough of Islington, Islington, North London, England. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of ...

, and played a leading role in the club's move from Highbury to Ashburton Grove, now known as

Emirates Stadium The Emirates Stadium (known as Arsenal Stadium for UEFA competitions) is a association football, football stadium in Holloway, London, England. It has been the home stadium of Arsenal F.C., Arsenal Football Club since its completion in 2006. ...

Early life

Fiszman was born in

Willesden Willesden () is an area of north-west London, situated 5 miles (8 km) north-west of Charing Cross. It is historically a parish in the county of Middlesex that was incorporated as the Municipal Borough of Willesden in 1933; it has formed ...

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

and was the son of a Belgian Jewish couple who fled the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

s during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Career

Fiszman made his fortune in diamonds, building Star Diamonds Group which traded in rough diamonds. Star Diamonds Group also owns 16% of Abbeycrest, whose major clients include Argos and

Asda Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded ...

. He sold the group in 2007 for £150M, to concentrate on his role in completing Arsenal's new stadium. Other shareholdings took his total worth to around £236m, ranking him 348th on the 2008 ''

Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' Rich List (351st in 2007, 273rd in 2006, 305th in 2005 and 207th in 2004).

Arsenal Football Club

Fiszman bought into Arsenal Football Club and became a board member through his purchase of an 8% stake from his friend

David Dein David Barry Dein (born 7 September 1943) is a British businessman, known for being a former co-owner and vice-chairman of Arsenal, as well as founding the Premier League. Dein was vice-chairman of Arsenal between 1983 and 2007, and was instru ...

, starting with 10,000 shares in 1991. In March 2007 Fiszman sold a block of 659 shares for over £3.9m to

Stan Kroenke Enos Stanley Kroenke (; born July 29, 1947) is an American billionaire real estate magnate and sports team owner. He is the owner of Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, which is the holding company of Arsenal of the Premier League and Arsenal Wo ...

Sports Enterprises (KSE). This was a significant sale as reducing his stake to less than 25% resulted in a loss of veto rights over any future changes to the company statutes. Speculation linked this with a move abroad where he would substantially reduce any

Capital Gains Tax A capital gains tax (CGT) is the tax on profits realized on the sale of a non-inventory asset. The most common capital gains are realized from the sale of stocks, bonds, precious metals, real estate, and property. In South Africa, capital g ...

liability that would come with a sale of his stake in the club. Fiszman stated his desire not sell any more of his shares for the foreseeable future, after the sale of 5,000 ordinary shares to Kroenke takes the American's stake in Arsenal Holdings plc to 12,756 Shares (representing 20.5%). On 27 March 2009 Fiszman sold 5,000 ordinary shares of £1 each in Arsenal Holdings plc to KSE, UK, Inc, at a price of £8,500 per share. On 11 April 2011, two days before his death, he sold his Arsenal shares amounting to 16.11% of club's stake to KSE, due to his declining health.

Personal life

Fiszman and his wife Sally lived in St Prex near

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

, Switzerland. His hobbies included running and flying – he was a fully qualified commercial jet pilot. Fiszman had been undergoing treatment for throat cancer at the time of his death. He died on 13 April 2011 aged 66.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fiszman, Danny People from Willesden British people of Belgian-Jewish descent English Jews Diamond dealers English expatriates in Switzerland Arsenal F.C. directors and chairmen Deaths from laryngeal cancer 1945 births 2011 deaths 20th-century English businesspeople