Rudy Sternberg, Baron Plurenden (17 April 1917 – 5 January 1978) was a Jewish-British industrialist and farmer.Ian Waller, ‘Sternberg, Rudy, Baron Plurenden (1917–1978)’, rev. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 31 Dec 2013
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Early life

Sternberg was born in Thorn,

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 ...

and educated at the Johanns Gymnasium in Breslau,

. He moved to England in 1937, to study chemical engineering at the

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

. Following the outbreak of war with Germany, Sternberg remained in England as a refugee from Hitler's persecution of the Jews. He joined the British Army in 1939, and was demobilised in 1943 on health grounds. In 1945, he became a naturalised British subject.http://rudysternberg.co.uk/

Career

In 1948, he founded the Sterling Group to manufacture

Bakelite Polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride, better known as Bakelite ( ), is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin, formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde. The first plastic made from synthetic components, it was developed ...

in a disused cotton mill in

Stalybridge Stalybridge () is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 23,731 at the 2011 Census. Historic counties of England, Historically divided between Cheshire and Lancashire, it is east of Manchester city centre and no ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. The Sterling Group went on to become one of Britain's largest manufacturers of plastics and resins. He also founded Dominion Exports, an import export company and acquired Plurenden Manor, a farming estate in

High Halden High Halden is a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, England. The village is on the A28 road between Ashford and Tenterden, 3 miles (5 km) north of the latter town. The Tenterden suburb of St. Michaels is included. Hi ...

, Kent. Sternberg was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in the 1970 New Year Honours List, and created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...

on 28 January 1975 as Baron Plurenden, of Plurenden Manor in the

County of Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces the ...

Personal life

In 1951, Sternberg married Dorothée Monica Prust, a former dancer with the

Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

, who bore him two daughters, Roseanne and Francesca. Sternberg collapsed and died at Tenerife Airport on 5 January 1978, while returning from holiday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sternberg, Rudy 1917 births 1978 deaths British industrialists British chemical engineers 20th-century British farmers Labour Party (UK) life peers Knights Bachelor British Jews Alumni of the University of London British Army personnel of World War II People from High Halden German emigrants to the United Kingdom Life peers created by Elizabeth II