Sir David Roderick Kirch,

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

(born 1936) is a British businessman, collector, and

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

Background

Kirch has lived in

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...

since 1973.

Collecting

Over his lifetime Kirch built up and subsequently sold what was probably the world's largest collection of

Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp ...

memorabilia, and a collection of provincial bank notes said to be "the most extensive selection of iconic and historical notes of this series ever assembled" by Barnaby Faull, Head of Spink's Banknotes department. In recent years, he has been selling off items from his various collections and donating the funds to his charitable trust.

Philanthropy

In 2006, Kirch celebrated his 70th birthday by announcing his plans to give everyone in Jersey, aged 70 or over, £100 in vouchers to spend in the island's Co-op supermarkets. He has continued to give away around £1m, along the same lines, each year since 2006. In 2012, Kirch announced his plans to leave his fortune, of approximately £100m, to the ''David Kirch Charitable Trust''. In 2013, he appeared at the top of ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, whi ...

Giving List'', and was appointed

Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(KBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for "services as a philanthropist to senior citizens of Jersey".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirch, David British philanthropists British businesspeople British collectors Living people Jersey people 1936 births Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire