Edmond Adolphe Maurice Jules Jacques de Rothschild (1926-1997)
Edmond Adolphe Maurice Jules Jacques de Rothschild was born into the branch of the French Rothschild family who made their homes in Paris and in Switzerland.
Adolphe Carl von Rothschild (1823-1900) of the Naples banking house bought the Pregny estate near Lake Geneva in 1857, and when he died in 1900, the property passed to his French cousin Maurice de Rothschild (1881-1957). It was Maurice's son, Edmond who was to create a financial business in Paris, Geneva and Luxembourg.
La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild (LCF)
In 1953, Edmond de Rothschild founded La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild (LCF) in Paris. He launched the Geneva-based private banking practice Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild in 1965 and a branch in Luxembourg three years later.
Edmond's other business interests included wine; in 1972 he bought Château Clarke vineyard. At the same time he acquired the neighbouring Château Malmaison. In 1977 he added Château Peyre-Lebade, another nearby estate which had fallen into neglect. A programme of renovation and modernisation on all three estates, comprising some 190 hectares of land, rapidly followed.
After the second World War, mass tourism became a rapidly growing industry, attracting the attention of the Rothschilds. Edmond de Rothschild became involved in the 1960s by backing a "small firm that was developing an interesting new approach to vacations". Edmond took a 35% stake in this 'small firm', called Club Mediterranee, which boomed over the next decade to become the most successful up-market family holiday organisation in the world. In addition, he was involved in Pan-American's Intercontinental hotels, bungalow villages in Majorca, developing a luxury resort near Caesarea in Israel which included Israel's first golf links, opened in 1967 and financed by James de Rothschild (1878-1957). Edmond was also been involved in developments in Guadeloupe and Martinique, and chalets, ski-lifts and a hotel in the resort of Megeve, developed single-handedly by his mother, Noémie (1888-1968) to become France's most chic winter resort.
He was a strong supporter of Israel and Jewish charities. Edmond married Nadine Lhopitalier in 1963 and their only child, Benjamin (1963-2021), was born in the same year. The family's principal residence was Château Pregny.
See also Nadine Nelly Jeanette de Rothschild (nee Lhopitalier) »
