Gail Ruth Rebuck, Baroness Rebuck (born 10 February 1952) is a British publisher and Chair of

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

UK. She has served as a Labour member of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

since 2014.

Early life and education

Rebuck's

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

n-born Jewish grandfather, and her own father, were both in the London rag trade. Her mother was a Dutch Jew. At the age of four she was sent to the

Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle The Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle, usually referred to as the Lycée or the French Lycée, is a French co-educational primary and secondary independent day school, situated in South Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and ...

, London, where she learned to read and write in French before she did in English. She graduated with a degree in intellectual history from

Sussex University The University of Sussex is a public research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the South Downs National Park, and provide ...

in 1974.

Career

Rebuck worked for several independent publishers and ran a paperback imprint for Hamlyn, before putting her own funds into a new imprint, Century. After a merger with Hutchinson in 1985, Century Hutchinson was taken over by Random House UK in 1989. Rebuck was appointed chair and chief executive of Random House UK in 1991. Rebuck was fifth in a 2006 ''

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'' list of the top people in the British books industry, and at ninth place in a 2011 ''

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unit ...

'' version of the list. In February 2013, she was assessed as the tenth most powerful woman in the UK by ''

Woman's Hour ''Woman's Hour'' is a radio magazine programme broadcast in the United Kingdom on the BBC Light Programme, BBC Radio 2, and later BBC Radio 4. It has been on the air since 1946. History The first BBC programme for women was the programme cal ...

'' on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

. She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2013. In February 2015, Rebuck succeeded Sir Neil Cossons as pro-provost and chair of council (the governing body) at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

(RCA); she joined the RCA council in 1999.

Personal life

She was married to

Philip Gould Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularized the n ...

, until his death in November 2011. They had two daughters:

Georgia Gould Georgia Gould (born January 5, 1980) is an American professional mountain bike and cyclocross competitor, and Olympian (2008, 2012). She has earned five career national championships – four in cross-country mountain bike in 2006, 2010, 2011 ...

, who currently serves as the MP for

Queen's Park and Maida Vale (UK Parliament constituency) Queen's Park and Maida Vale is a constituency in Greater London represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, it was first contested at the 2024 gene ...

, and Grace Gould.

Honours

Rebuck was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(CBE) in the

2000 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2000 for the United Kingdom and New Zealand were announced on 31 December 1999, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2000. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various or ...

, and promoted to Dame Commander of the same Order (DBE) in the

2009 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 2009 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as ...

. In 2014, it was announced that Rebuck was to become a Labour peer in the

, following in the footsteps of her late husband. She was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

on 18 September 2014, taking the title Baroness Rebuck, of

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in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London boroughs, borough in Inner London, England. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the former Metropolitan boroughs of the Cou ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rebuck, Gail 1952 births Living people 20th-century British businesspeople 21st-century British businesspeople Alumni of the University of Sussex British Ashkenazi Jews Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire English Jews English people of Dutch-Jewish descent English people of Latvian-Jewish descent Jewish British politicians Labour Party (UK) life peers Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II Life peers created by Elizabeth II People educated at Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle Place of birth missing (living people) Publishers (people) from London Spouses of life peers Women book publishers (people)