Conrad Hugo Penny (born 31 May 1951) is a South African property broker and property valuer who has worked for Penny Brothers Brokers & Valuers for over fifty years. He is the founder and chair of Penny Holdings (Pty) Ltd. and the Managing Director of Penny Brothers Brokers & Valuers (Pty) Ltd. He is also an appraiser to the South African Minister of Justice.

Family and early life

Conrad Penny was born on 31 May 1951 in

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, the son of Errol Penny and Nina Hartdegen, Grandson of Magnus Penny and Elizabeth le Sueur, Great-Grandson of Herbert Penny (founder of the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

in the Cape which ultimately led to the formation of the

South African Navy The South African Navy (SA Navy) is the naval warfare branch of the South African National Defence Force. The Navy is primarily engaged in maintaining a conventional military deterrent, participating in counter-piracy operations, fishery prot ...

) and Carlotta Forssman (daughter of Chevalier Oscar Wilhelm Alric Forssman of

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

who was the son of Jonas Samuel Forssman (1783 and 1835), Councillor of the War Cabinet of Sweden. Penny's mother was a granddaughter of Cuninghame Wilson Moore, the older brother of Sir Archibald

Gordon Moore Gordon Earle Moore (born January 3, 1929) is an American businessman, engineer, and the co-founder and chairman emeritus of Intel Corporation. He is also the original proponent of Moore's law. As of March 2021, Moore's net worth is rep ...

, Admiral of the Fleet. In March 2015 Penny attended the reinterment of King

Richard III of England Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...

as a guest of

Leicester University , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...

and

Leicester Cathedral The Cathedral Church of Saint Martin, Leicester, commonly known as Leicester Cathedral, is a Church of England cathedral in Leicester, England and the seat of the Bishop of Leicester. The church was elevated to a collegiate church in 1922 ...

. In addition to Penny's royal ancestry,

Kevin Schürer Kevin Schürer (born 22 June 1957) is a British historian, genealogist and statistician, previously Pro-Vice Chancellor of Research and Enterprise, who teaches at the University of Leicester. He specialises in the historical demography, the hist ...

identified and recognised Penny as a descendant of at least ten other Lords, Knights and soldiers at the 1485

Battle of Bosworth The Battle of Bosworth or Bosworth Field was the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the houses of Lancaster and York that extended across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 Augu ...

where

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...

lost his life. Penny was educated at

St Stithians College ST, St, or St. may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Stanza, in poetry * Suicidal Tendencies, an American heavy metal/hardcore punk band * Star Trek, a science-fiction media franchise * Summa Theologica, a compendium of Catholic philosophy an ...

(1964–65) and Hyde Park High School (1966–68) in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. Penny was privately educated "in house" at Penny Brothers between 1970 and 1973 where Town Planner Professor EWN Mallows, Quantity Surveyor and Civil Engineer ACM Tyrrell, Company/Property Lawyer PJP Neall and Company/Tax Account AE Hirsowitz were put at his disposal for his tertiary education. He later passed the valuer's exam set by The South African Council for the Property Valuers Profession. Penny married Baroness Maria-Therésia Kotz von Dobrzhttps://cs.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kocové_z_Dobrše in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

on 7 January 1978 and together they have two sons and two daughters.

Career

In 1996 Penny's company, Penny Brothers Brokers & Valuers (Pty) Ltd., was awarded tenders for the valuation of the whole of

Soweto Soweto () is a township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western Townships''. Formerly a s ...

, in

, which valuation included over 325 000 dwellings. The tenders were awarded by the

City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite services for the city. Z ...

for taxing and rating purposes. This was the single largest valuation ever undertaken in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. Penny is a member of the Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa, a member of the South African Institute of Valuers, appraiser to the Hon. South African Minister of Justice and is registered as a professional valuer with the South African Council for the Property Valuers. Given his interest in anthropology and paleontology, he is also a member of the

Royal Society of South Africa The Royal Society of South Africa is a learned society composed of eminent South African scientists and academics. The society was granted its royal charter by King Edward VII in 1908, nearly a century after Capetonians first began to conceive of ...

. Penny is the owner of Chartwell Castle in north western

, where he laid out the largest permanent hedgerow

Maze A maze is a path or collection of paths, typically from an entrance to a goal. The word is used to refer both to branching tour puzzles through which the solver must find a route, and to simpler non-branching ("unicursal") patterns that lea ...

in the Southern Hemisphere.

Philanthropy and civic work

Trees - Penny has also propagated approximately 7000 trees at Chartwell Castle which have been donated to the streets, pavements, parks, schools and Places of Worship and Refuge mainly within the

. Chartwell Local Area Committee - In around 1988, Penny as Chairman of the Farmall and Farmall Ext. 1 Landowners Association, assisted in the creation of The Greater Chartwell Local Area Committee, in what was then the outlying regions of northern

. The merger of the surrounding areas resulted in a rate based income being viable to afford the region with tarred roads along arterial routes and the provision of municipal water supply. Consequently, the sub-division of land became possible and the region has since been incorporated into the

. Rand Club - In 2016, Conrad Penny initiated the formation of the Rand Club Salvage Consortium (RCSC) which successfully resuscitated the historic (1887)

Rand Club of Johannesburg The Rand Club is a private members' club in Johannesburg, South Africa, founded in October 1887. The current (third) clubhouse was designed by architects Leck & Emley in 1902 and its construction completed in 1904. Cecil John Rhodes helped to se ...

(and its fine Edwardian building) after it had been mothballed because of a decline in membership following a general exodus from the old CBD of Johannesburg.

References

External links

The Penny Brothers Website

Chartwell Castle Website

The South African Council for the Property Valuers Profession Website

The South African Institute of Valuers Website

The Institute of Estate Agents of South Africa Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Penny, Conrad South African businesspeople 1951 births Living people