15 June 2007
Baron Guy de Rothschild, patriarch of the famous French Jewish banking family, has died in Paris aged 98. Rothschild died on Thursday. He saw his family bank taken over during the Nazi occupation in 1940 because it was owned by Jews. In 1981, the bank was nationalized by the Socialist government of Francois Mitterrand. In an editorial in “Le Monde”, Rothschild accused the Socialists of anti-Semitism. His son David reconstructed the family banking network, which in 1987 became the Rothschild and Company Bank.
Rothschild also founded and, from 1950 to 1982, presided over the United Jewish Welfare Fund, France's leading Jewish philanthropic organization. Along with David, he is survived by another son, Edouard, and many other relatives. A funeral is scheduled for 21 June in the main synagogue of Paris.
