Simon David Davan Sainsbury (1 March 1930 – 27 September 2006) was a British businessman, philanthropist and art collector.

Early life

Sainsbury was born in London,Obituary, ''The Independent'', 4 October 2006
the middle son of Alan Sainsbury and his wife Doreen. His brothers are

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

; Timothy, former Conservative Minister of Trade. David Sainsbury, Labour life peer and Minister for Science, is a cousin. His great-grandfather,

John James Sainsbury John James Sainsbury (12 June 1844 – 3 January 1928) was an English grocer and founder of what is now called the Sainsbury's supermarket chain. Early and private life John James Sainsbury was born on 12 June 1844 at 5 Oakley Street, Lambet ...

, established a grocer's at 173

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the boundary between the Covent Garden and Holborn areas of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of London Borough of Camden, Camden and the southern part in the City o ...

in 1869 which became the British supermarket chain

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...

. Sainsbury was educated at Sandroyd School,

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

, where he became head of his house and President of the Eton Society ("Pop"). A keen sportsman, he was selected for the Eton-Harrow match at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...

in 1947 as a bowler; sent in as a nightwatchman, he scored a

century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

.Obituary, ''The Daily Telegraph'', 9 October 2006
/ref> After

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

as "sports officer" in the Life Guards, he studied history at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

Career

Sainsbury trained as a chartered accountant after leaving university. He joined the finance department of the family company, then known as J. Sainsbury, in 1956 and became a director in 1959, responsible for finance. When his brother John became chairman of Sainsbury's in 1969, Simon was given the deputy chairmanship. In 1973, it was Simon who steered the company through what became the largest ever floatation on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

Charitable works

He established The Monument Trust in 1965, which gave grants of more than £100 million over the following 40 years. The Trust supported the Georgian Society. In 1990, he made a donation via The Monument Trust of £5 million to his alma mater,

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, which used the money to convert the old

Addenbrooke's Hospital Addenbrooke's Hospital is a large teaching hospital and research centre in Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county to ...

building on Trumpington Street in Cambridge into what was to become Cambridge Judge Business School.A tribute to Simon Sainsbury, businessman and philanthropist
accessed 4 November 2007 Following riots in 1991, the Trust was also involved in renovations of the Meadow Well housing estate in North Tyneside. More recently, it funded an extension of the Pallant House Gallery in

Chichester Chichester ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in the Chichester District, Chichester district of West Sussex, England.OS Explorer map 120: Chichester, South Harting and Selsey Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher ...

to house the large art collection of Sir

Colin St John Wilson Sir Colin Alexander St John Wilson, Royal Institute of British Architects, FRIBA, Royal Academy, RA, (14 March 1922 – 14 May 2007) was an English architect, lecturer and author. With his partner MJ Long, Wilson spent over 30 years progressing t ...

. Simon Sainsbury also personally supported research into HIV and AIDS. He and his brothers funded an extension to the

National Gallery, London The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current dire ...

at a cost of around £50 million, which opened in 1991 as the Sainsbury Wing. The Trust also supported the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

, the

Campaign to Protect Rural England Campaign or The Campaign may refer to: Types of campaigns * Campaign, in agriculture, the period during which sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and that is grown commercially for sugar produ ...

, the

Landmark Trust The Landmark Trust is a British architectural conservation, building conservation charitable organization, charity, founded in 1965 by John Smith (Conservative politician), Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or ...

, the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

, the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, the

Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities University museum, museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, and the restoration of Christ Church Spitalfields. He was a trustee of the

Wallace Collection The Wallace Collection is a museum in London occupying Hertford House in Manchester Square, the former townhouse (Great Britain), townhouse of the Seymour family, Marquess of Hertford, Marquesses of Hertford. It is named after Sir Richard Wall ...

from 1977 to 1997, and a trustee of the National Gallery from 1991 to 1998. He also supported the National Theatre and the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

. He refused all public honours, and declined an entry in ''

Who's Who A Who's Who (or Who Is Who) is a reference work consisting of biographical entries of notable people in a particular field. The oldest and best-known is the annual publication ''Who's Who (UK), Who's Who'', a reference work on contemporary promin ...

''.

Personal life

Near the end of his life, Sainsbury entered into a

civil partnership A civil union (also known as a civil partnership) is a legally recognized arrangement similar to marriage, primarily created to provide legal recognition for same-sex couples. Civil unions grant some or all of the rights of marriage, with ch ...

with his partner of 40 years, Stewart Grimshaw, a restaurateur and bookseller. He suffered from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

in his later years, and ultimately suffered a fall which caused his death. Upon his death in 2006, Sainsbury bequeathed the cream of his art collection to the National Gallery and the Tate. The combined value of the paintings in the bequest has been estimated at £100 million. In 2008, the National Gallery received five works, by

Claude Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...

Edgar Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints, and drawings. Degas is e ...

Paul Gauguin Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (; ; 7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a French painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramist, and writer, whose work has been primarily associated with the Post-Impressionist and Symbolist movements. He was also an influ ...

, and

Henri Rousseau Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (; 21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910)
at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Gug ...

, and the Tate thirteen, including works by

Balthus Balthasar Klossowski de Rola (February 29, 1908 – February 18, 2001), known as Balthus, was a Polish-French modern artist. He is known for his erotically charged images of pubescent girls, but also for the refined, dreamlike quality of his ima ...

and

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. His early career as a painter was inf ...

. Sir Nicholas Serota, the director of the latter institution, called the bequest "one of the most important gifts in the history of Tate".

References

External links

More details on the bequest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sainsbury, Simon 1930 births 2006 deaths People educated at Sandroyd School People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge English people of Dutch-Jewish descent English philanthropists English art collectors People associated with the National Gallery, London People associated with the Wallace Collection English businesspeople in retailing Sons of life peers Simon 20th-century English businesspeople