Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knig ...

Rodolphe Hottinguer (1902–1985) was the fifth Baron of Hottinguer.

Biography

Early life and education

Born on 16 October 1902, he was the elder son of Baron Henri Hottinguer (1868-1943) and Marian Munroe. He earned a Diploma from

École supérieure des sciences économiques et commerciales The École Supérieure des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales (more commonly ESSEC Business School or ESSEC) is a major French business and management school, with non-profit association status (French association law of 1901) founded in 1907 ...

in Paris, then entered the

Artillery School Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

of Fontainebleau in 1922. He left in 1923 as a lieutenant. In 1925, he embarked on a voyage, crossing the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

; he visited

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

, Valparaiso,

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...

, then

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Career

Rodolphe becomes partners with Hottinger & Cie on 1 April 1926. Three years later he became administrator of the Company for general insurances. Later he became President and occupied that position until the company's nationalization in 1947. It has long been a tradition of the Hottinguer family to play an active role in consideration of the major questions of national and international economics and finance, Baron Rodolphe Hottinguer continued his tradition, occupying, in addition to his role in the bank, important posts including Vice-Chairman of the

Paris Chamber of Commerce The Paris Chamber of Commerce (french: Chambre de commerce et d'industrie de Paris or ''CCIP'') is a chamber of commerce of the Paris region. It defends the interests of companies of the city of Paris, and provides services to these companies. S ...

, Chairman of the

International Chamber of Commerce The International Chamber of Commerce (ICC; French: ''Chambre de commerce internationale'') is the largest, most representative business organization in the world. Its over 45 million members in over 100 countries have interests spanning every s ...

, Chairman of the

European Banking Federation The European Banking Federation is a trade association representing national banking associations in countries of the European Union and the European Free Trade Association. It represents over 3500 banks and about 2.6 million employees. It was ...

and, between 1943 and 1979, Chairman of the French Banking Association. Hottinger & Cie took part in the creation of the

Insurance company Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to hedge ...

Drouot, one of the origin of the group AXA. It is in this time that he was made Chairman of the

1971-1973.

Marriage and children

Rodolphe and his wife née Odette Basset had four children. Henri (1934-2015), Caroline (1936-2008), Paul (1942), Véronique (1943). His son Henri was the 6th Baron Hottinguer. He married Josiane Van Laer, and had two sons Rodolphe (1956) the seventh Baron Hottinguer and Frédéric. Caroline, first married Count Christian de Pourtalès with whom she had three children: Laure (1958), Max (1961) & Paul (1961). She divorced and got married with Marquis du Vivier. Paul, first married with Christine Robinet de Plas with whom he had two children: Laetitia (1966) and Philippe (1969). From a third marriage, he also has one daughter: Mélanie. Véronique is married with Richard Bowdler-Raynar. They have two children: William (1965) and Jonathan (1970).

Sources

* ''Messieurs Hottinguer Banquiers à Paris'', Max Gérard, 1968, Tome Premier. * ''Capitals of Capital, A History of International Financial Centres, 1780–2005'', /

External links