David Bloomberg (1932 – 26 October 2020) was a former

Mayor of Cape Town The mayor of Cape Town is the head of the local government of Cape Town, South Africa; currently that government takes the form of the City of Cape Town Metropolitan municipality (South Africa), Metropolitan Municipality. The mayoral position w ...

, lawyer, anti-apartheid campaigner, theatre columnist, theatre director and author.

Early life

Bloomberg was born in the

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

suburb of

Sea Point Sea Point (Afrikaans: ''Seepunt'') is an affluent and densely populated suburb of Cape Town, situated in the Western Cape, between Signal Hill and the Atlantic Ocean, a few kilometres to the west of Cape Town's Central Business District (CBD). M ...

in 1932, and educated at Christian Brother's College and the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

. His father, Abe Bloomberg, was a leading lawyer, MP, and the

from 1945 to 1947, and his mother, Miriam, was a ballerina and ballet teacher.

Career

Bloomberg joined his father's law firm, Bloomberg, Baigel & Co. where he made his name as a lawyer. He was the defence attorney for

Dimitri Tsafendas Dimitri Tsafendas (; 14 January 1918 – 7 October 1999) was a Greek- Mozambican political militant and the assassin of Prime Minister of South Africa Hendrik Verwoerd. Beresford, David (11 October 1999)Obituary: Long-jailed assassin of South A ...

, who fatally stabbed the Prime Minister, Dr H.F. Verwoerd, in Parliament in 1966. He was also passionate about the Arts and created the Barn Theatre in the garden of his family's home in Constantia. Bloomberg introduced a number of multi-racial plays to Apartheid South Africa, including plays like ''Porgy and Bess'' and ''South Pacific''. As a politician, Bloomberg served on the Cape Town City Council for twenty years, and as deputy mayor for two years before his appointment as

from 1973 to 1975. As a director of the Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB) he played an important role in establishing the

Artscape Theatre Centre Artscape Theatre Centre (formerly Nico Malan Theatre Centre) is the main performing arts centre in Cape Town, South Africa. It was opened in 1971 and is located on reclaimed land in the Foreshore area. The inaugural performance was scheduled to ...

, although he fought against its naming in honour of Nico Malan. He was instrumental in privatizing the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra in 1986 and subsequently served as its chair for a number of years. He later joined the Board of Patrons for the

Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra The Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) is an orchestra based in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. History Founded by the Cape Town City Council as the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra, the CPO held its inaugural concert on 28 February ...

. A one-time theatre columnist for the ''

Cape Times The ''Cape Times'' is an English-language morning newspaper owned by Sekunjalo Investments, Independent News & Media SA and published in Cape Town, South Africa. the newspaper had a daily readership of 261000 and a circulation of 34523. By th ...

'', he published seven books.

Personal life

Bloomberg was a keen tennis player and played doubles in the Western Province Open Tennis Championships. He married the dancer Toby Fine and they had two children together. When she fell ill they moved to London and later Switzerland for her treatment, but she died in London in 2010. He subsequently returned from Lugano to Cape Town. He died from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa The COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa was part of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). On 5 March 2020, Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize had confirme ...

, on 26 October 2020. He is buried at the Jewish cemetery in Pinelands.David Bloomberg
Cape Town Jewish Cemeteries Maintenance Board. Retrieved on 26 December 2023

Writings

*''Meet the People'' (1975) *''My Times'' (an autobiography, 2007), *''Won’t Forgive… Can’t Forget'' (2006) *''The Chain Gang: Mayors who Served in Cape Town's City Hall'' (2011) *''Simon's Destiny'' (2012) *''The Don ... Story of an Actor'' (2014) *''The Lion and the Thespian'' (2017)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloomberg, David 1932 births 2020 deaths University of Cape Town alumni Mayors of Cape Town South African people of Russian-Jewish descent Jewish South African politicians Politicians from Cape Town Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa