Graham Beck (5 December 1929 – 28 July 2010) was a South African

business magnate A business magnate, also known as an industrialist or tycoon, is a person who is a powerful entrepreneur and investor who controls, through personal enterprise ownership or a dominant shareholding position, a firm or industry whose goods or ser ...

, wine maker,

stud farm A stud farm or stud in animal husbandry is an establishment for selective breeding of livestock. The word "stud (animal), stud" comes from the Old English ''stod'' meaning "herd of horses, place where horses are kept for breeding". Historically, ...

er and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

. He was one of the richest men in South Africa.

Early life and education

Beck was born in

Faure Faure () is an Occitan family name meaning blacksmith, from Latin . It is pronounced in French (unlike Fauré which is pronounced ). People Politicians * Dominique Faure (born 1959), French politician * Edgar Faure (1908–1988), French poli ...

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

region of South Africa in 1929 into a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family. His father was a stockbroker who encouraged him to enter the

coal mining Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

business. After matriculating from Kingswood College he went on to complete a Bachelors of Commerce degree from 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 ...

Career

After graduating from university Beck started working on South Africa's

coal mine Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...

s. He obtained his blasting certification and obtaining a working knowledge about the coal mining industry he began buying up smaller coal mines that larger companies were not interested in and made them profitable. He was closely linked to the South African mining magnate

Cyril Ramaphosa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician serving as the 5th and current President of South Africa since 2018. A former Anti-Apartheid Movement, anti-apartheid activist and trade union leade ...

who was Kangra's primary empowerment partner. After selling his coal interests in 2006 he focused on horse breeding and wine making. He first started his

wine making Winemaking, wine-making, or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. There is ...

career when he bought his first farm in

Robertson Robertson may refer to: People * Robertson (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Robertson (given name) * Clan Robertson, a Scottish clan * Robertson, stage name of Belgian magician Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763–1837) Plac ...

in 1983, starting the wine farm from scratch. He recognised that the area's limestone soil might be good for both wine making and horse breeding. He bought Bellingham winery in

Franschhoek Franschhoek (; Afrikaans for "French Corner", Dutch spelling before 1947 ''Fransche Hoek'', French: ''Le Coin Français'') is a small town in the Western Cape Province and one of the oldest towns in South Africa. It was formerly known as Oliph ...

in the 1990s and founded the Graham Beck wine label there in 1998. He started one of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

's first

sparkling wine Sparkling wine is a wine with significant levels of carbon dioxide in it, making it fizzy. While it is common to refer to this as champagne, European Union countries legally reserve that word for products exclusively produced in the Champagne ( ...

brands. In 1989 he bought the Douglas Green Bellingham wine company for R12 million giving him access to their distribution network. In 2005 he purchased Steenberg Hotel and Steenberg Winery in the Constantia Wine Route, Tokai, Cape Town, South Africa. He owned both the Gainesway Farm stud farm in Kentucky, United States and the Highlands stud farm in South Africa. He founded Kangra Group and the non-profit Graham Beck Foundation. He owned the stud farm

Gainesway Farm Gainesway Farm is an American Thoroughbred horse breeding business in Lexington, Kentucky. It was originally called Greentree Stables, Greentree Farms. The 1,500-acre (6 km2) property has been home to stallions such as Youth (horse), Youth a ...

in the United States and the wine farm Steenberg in Cape Town in addition to other wine farms in

and

. He netted R1.08 billion in 2006 from the sale of his 60% stake in Kangra Group's coal operation to the Spanish company Fenosa.

Death

Beck died on 27 July 2010 in London from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma, is a malignant tumor that begins in the lung. Lung cancer is caused by genetic damage to the DNA of cells in the airways, often caused by cigarette smoking or inhaling damaging chemicals. Damaged ...

. He was buried in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beck, Graham 1929 births 2010 deaths South African businesspeople South African philanthropists South African racehorse owners and breeders South African winemakers University of Cape Town alumni Alumni of Kingswood College (South Africa) 20th-century philanthropists Deaths from lung cancer in England