Jonathan-Raphaël Bischoffsheim (26 April 1808 – 5 February 1883) was a Belgian banker, businessman and philanthropist.

Family

He descended from the Bischoffsheim family, which was endowed with an exceptional European network. On 11 June 1832, he married Henriette

Goldschmidt Goldschmidt is a German surname meaning "Goldsmith". Notable people with the surname include: * Adalbert von Goldschmidt (1848–1906), composer * Adolph Goldschmidt (1863–1944), art historian * Adolphe Goldschmidt (1838–1918), German-Britis ...

(1812–1892) in Brussels, and together they had four children: Claire (1833–1899), Regine (1834–?), Ferdinand Raphaël (1837–1909), and Hortense Henriette (1843–1901).

Career

In 1827, he co-founded the bank of ''Bischoffsheim & Goldschmidt''. He played an important role for the finances and the institutions during the early years of Belgian independence. Bisschoffsheim was a Director of the

Banque de Belgique The ''Banque de Belgique'' () was a major bank in Belgium, founded in 1835 and eventually wound up in 1885 after experiencing multiple episodes of financial distress. Overview The Banque de Belgique was founded by liberal leader Charles de Br ...

and was one of the founders of the

National Bank of Belgium The National Bank of Belgium (NBB; , NBB; , BNB; , BNB) is the National central bank (Eurosystem), national central bank for Belgium within the Eurosystem. It was the Belgian central bank from 1850 until 1998, established by law of and issuin ...

, the regional tramways and managed the Crédit Communal and the

Caisse Générale d'Épargne et de Retraite The Algemene Spaar- en Lijfrentekas / Caisse générale d'épargne et de retraite (ASLK / CGER, ) was a major Belgian public bank, originally created in 1850 as a pension institution. It was acquired in stages between 1993 and 1998 by Fortis Gro ...

. Together with his brother

Louis-Raphaël Bischoffsheim Louis-Raphaël Bischoffsheim (; 22 June 1800 – 14 November 1873) was a German international banker and a member of the prominent Bischoffsheim family. Early life Louis-Raphaël was born on 22 June 1800 and was the eldest son of Nathan-Rapha� ...

(1800–1873), he founded the bank which eventually developed into

Paribas The Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas (, ), generally referred to from 1982 as Paribas (), was a French investment bank based in Paris. In May 2000, it merged with the Banque Nationale de Paris to form BNP Paribas. History Background In the ...

bank. From 1862 until 1883, he was also a Liberal member of the Belgian Parliament, and as such was influential in the development of the public education network.

Sources

* Youssef Cassis, ''Capitals of Capital, A History of International Financial Centres, 1780–2005'', Université de Genève,
The jewish community of Belgium
- Jewish figures of note

(Origins of Paribas) * Meeuwissen, Eric. ''Richesse oblige. La Belle Epoque des Grandes Fortunes''. Préface de Jean Stengers, Brussels, Editions Racine, 1999, pp. 315–318.
The Jewish Encyclopedia
* Cilli Kasper-Holtkotte, ''Im Westen neues: Migration und ihre Folgen: Deutsche Juden als Pioniere jüdischen Lebens in Belgien, 18./19. Jahrhundert'', BRILL, 2003. 1808 births 1883 deaths Businesspeople from Mainz 19th-century Belgian businesspeople 19th-century Belgian Jews Belgian philanthropists Belgian bankers Jewish bankers Belgian people of German-Jewish descent 19th-century philanthropists German emigrants to Belgium German people of Belgian descent {{Belgium-business-bio-stub