Sir Erich Arieh Reich (1935 – 2 November 2022) was an Austrian-born British entrepreneur based in London, who through his company Classic Tours inspired over 50,000 people to raise £90 million for over 300 UK charities.

Early life

Reich was born in 1935 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. In 1938, he was one of the children of 5,000 families deported by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

. Under the

Kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children (but not their parents) from Nazi-controlled territory that took place during the nine months prior to the outbreak of the Second Worl ...

agreement, he arrived in the United Kingdom, aged 4, in August 1939, one of 10,000 children. He never saw his parents again; they were murdered in Auschwitz. Initially placed with a foster family in

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp ...

, Surrey, he attended Dorking County Grammar School from 1946 to 1948 when he moved to a Jewish school in

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshire. The term ''nor ...

. Aged 13, he emigrated to the new state of

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 ...

in 1949.

Career

Reich returned to London in 1967, working for

Thomson Holidays Thomson Travel Group plc was a business formed by the Thomson Corporation of Canada, when it was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1998. It was acquired by Preussag AG, an industrial and transport conglomerate, in 2000. The group continue ...

, where by 1970 he was operations director. He then joined

Thomas Cook Thomas Cook (22 November 1808 – 18 July 1892) was an English businessman. He is best known for founding the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son. He was also one of the initial developers of the " package tour" including travel, accommodati ...

, where by 1979 he was managing director of tour operations. In 1987, he set up a travel company Classic Tours, that later specialised in activity-based global travel. In 2004, Reich had a complaint upheld by

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

, over a report by the

BBC1 BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins ...

's ''

Watchdog Watchdog or watch dog may refer to: Animals *Guard dog, a dog that barks to alert its owners of an intruder's presence * Portuguese Watch Dog, Cão de Castro Laboreiro, a dog breed * Moscow Watchdog, a breed of dog that was bred in the Soviet U ...

'' programme into Classic Tours.

Charity

In 1992, Reich proposed a fund-raising bicycle ride, to raise funds for the Edinburgh Medical Missionary Society and Ravenswood, a Jewish home for the disabled. The original proposal was for 50 people to ride the northern section of the newly opened

Israel National Trail The Israel National Trail ( he, שביל ישראל, ''Shvil Yisra'el'') is a hiking path that was inaugurated in 1995. The trail crosses the entire country of Israel. Its northern end is at Dan, near the Lebanese border in the far north of the c ...

, from Dan in the north of Israel to

Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

in the

Negev The Negev or Negeb (; he, הַנֶּגֶב, hanNegév; ar, ٱلنَّقَب, an-Naqab) is a desert and semidesert region of southern Israel. The region's largest city and administrative capital is Beersheba (pop. ), in the north. At its southe ...

. The eventual trip in November 1992 had 230 participants, and raised £600,000. The sum raised and the enthusiasm it created resulted in

Classic Tours A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...

being approached by other charities to undertake similar events. Classic Tours operated more than 100 events each year, offering events based on activities as varied as trekking, mountain climbing, and horse riding. The events were arranged as either bespoke challenges for specific charities, consortiums with groups of charities, or open challenges available for anyone to join. The events in 17 years of operations inspired more than 50,000 people to raise £90m via overseas trips. In 2008, as chairman of the

Association of Jewish Refugees The Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR) is the specialist nationwide social and welfare services charity representing and supporting Jewish victims of Nazi oppression, and their dependants and descendants, living in Great Britain. The AJR celebra ...

' Kindertransport group, he organised celebrations marking 70 years since Parliament allowed the Jewish youngsters into Britain. Reich was honorary president of Manna, the British branch of the Israeli charity Meir Panim.

Personal life and death

Reich was married four times and had five children from the first three marriages. His fourth wife was Linda Haase. He died on 2 November 2022, aged 87.

Awards

Reich was recognised with an outstanding contribution award at the 2008 Professional Fundraising Awards. He was knighted for his charitable contributions in the

2010 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2010 were announced on 31 December 2009 in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Barbados, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Saint Lucia, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Christopher and NevisSaint Christ ...

. The smallest boy of the 2006 statue '' Kindertransport – The Arrival'' in London, commemorating the arrival of Jewish refugees at the city's

Liverpool Street station Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the ...

, was modelled on Reich.

References

External links

Classic ToursAssociation of Jewish Refugees
{{DEFAULTSORT:Reich, Erich 1935 births 2022 deaths Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss to the United Kingdom Kindertransport refugees People from Highgate 21st-century English businesspeople Knights Bachelor English emigrants to Israel Austrian emigrants to Israel People educated at Dorking Grammar School Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom 20th-century English businesspeople 20th-century English Jews 21st-century English Jews English people of Austrian-Jewish descent