Alfred Paul Ernst Freiherr von Oppenheim (May 5, 1934 – January 5, 2005), known in America as Alfred Oppenheim, was a German billionaire and banker. Born in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, Oppenheim was a descendant of

Salomon Oppenheim, Jr. Salomon Oppenheim, Jr. (19 June 1772 – 8 November 1828) was a German Jewish banker, and the founder of the Sal. Oppenheim private bank. He was born in Bonn, the scion of an illustrious family of "Court Jews" (german: Hofjuden) who had serve ...

, who founded the Credit Institute in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

and moved to Cologne in 1798. He studied at

Amherst Amherst may refer to: People * Amherst (surname), including a list of people with the name * Earl Amherst of Arracan in the East Indies, a title in the British Peerage; formerly ''Baron Amherst'' * Baron Amherst of Hackney of the City of London, ...

and

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

until 1960. In 1964, he became a senior partner of

Sal. Oppenheim Sal. Oppenheim was a German private bank founded in 1789 and headquartered in Cologne, Germany. It provided asset management solutions for wealthy individual clients and institutional investors. In 2009, the bank became a subsidiary of Deutsche Ba ...

, and in 1978 he took over leadership of the board. From 1993 he was a member of the shareholders' committee and the governing body of the bank. Oppenheim was also vice-president of the German Association of Chambers of Commerce and Industry ( Deutscher Industrie- und Handelskammertag) and president of the Franco-German Chamber of Commerce in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. He also served as president of the German Council on Foreign Relations

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. He founded the Alfred Freiherr von Oppenheim Foundation for Scientific Research. On 14 October 2004 he was awarded the

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

Decoration of Honour. He was a fellow of the University of Cologne, holder of the

Federal Cross of Merit The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

First Class of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2003, he was awarded the Croix de Commandeur from the French Legion of Honour for encouraging and deepening political and cultural ties between Germany and France. In 1962 he married his wife Jeanne von Oppenheim, with whom he had three children, Victoria, Alexandra, and Christopher. Oppenheim and his wife owned one of the largest private collections of world photography and donated it to an American Museum. Oppenheim died in January 2005 following a short but serious illness.

References

*Most of the text of this article comes from the equivalent German Wikipedia article, which cites the following references: *
Press release from Sal. Oppenheim & Cie. on the occasion of von Oppenheim's 70th birthday
**
Obituary Alfred Baron von Oppenheim released by Sal. Oppenheim & Cie.
:''This article is based on a translation of the corresponding article in the

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia (german: Deutschsprachige Wikipedia) is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on March 16, 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia (after the English Wikipedia), ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Oppenheim, Alfred Freiherr von 1934 births 2005 deaths German bankers Amherst College alumni Harvard University alumni Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United States

See also

References