Simon Rufus Isaacs, 4th Marquess of Reading (born 18 May 1942), is a

British peer The peerages in the United Kingdom are a legal system comprising both hereditary and lifetime titles, composed of various noble ranks, and forming a constituent part of the British honours system. The term ''peerage'' can be used both collec ...

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

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 ...

Biography

Early life

Simon Rufus Isaacs was born on 18 May 1942.DeBrett's
/ref> His father was

Michael Isaacs, 3rd Marquess of Reading Michael Alfred Rufus Isaacs, 3rd Marquess of Reading (8 March 1916 – 2 July 1980) was an English aristocrat and banker. Biography Early life He was born in 1916. His father was Gerald Rufus Isaacs, 2nd Marquess of Reading (1889–1960), and ...

(1916–1980), and his mother was Margot Irene (née Duke) (1919–2015).National Portrait Gallery
/ref>
/ref> His paternal grandfather was

Gerald Isaacs, 2nd Marquess of Reading Gerald Rufus Isaacs, 2nd Marquess of Reading (10 December 1889 – 19 September 1960), styled Viscount Erleigh from 1917 to 1935, was a British barrister and Liberal then Conservative politician. Background and education Gerald Rufus Isaacs ...

(1889–1960). His paternal great-grandfather was

Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading Rufus Daniel Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading, (10 October 1860 – 30 December 1935) was a British Liberal politician and judge, who served as Lord Chief Justice of England, Viceroy of India, and Foreign Secretary, the last Liberal to hold that ...

(1860–1935). He became the fourth

Marquess of Reading Marquess of Reading is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1926 for Rufus Isaacs, who had been Member of Parliament for Reading between 1904 and 1913, before serving as Viceroy of India and Lord Chief Justice of Engla ...

after his father's death in 1980. His maternal great-grandparents were

Alfred Moritz Mond, 1st Baron Melchett Alfred Moritz Mond, 1st Baron Melchett, PC, FRS, DL (23 October 1868 – 27 December 1930), known as Sir Alfred Mond, Bt between 1910 and 1928, was a British industrialist, financier and politician. In his later life he became an active Zio ...

(1868–1930), and

Violet Mond, Baroness Melchett Violet Florence Mabel Mond, Baroness Melchett, (''née'' Goetze; 27 December 1867 – 25 September 1945) was a British humanitarian and activist. Violet Goetze was the daughter of Rosina Hariet (née Bentley; died 1877) and James D. Goetze (d ...

(1867–1945). Violet Mond's grandfather was

Ludwig Mond Ludwig Mond FRS (7 March 1839 – 11 December 1909) was a German-born, British chemist and industrialist. He discovered an important, previously unknown, class of compounds called metal carbonyls. Education and career Ludwig Mond was born i ...

(1839–1909), chemist and industrialist, who created the Mond process to extract and purify nickel.

Career

He was a lieutenant in

1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards (QDG) is a regiment in the Royal Armoured Corps of the British Army. Nicknamed The Welsh Cavalry, the regiment recruits from Wales and the bordering English counties of Cheshire, Herefordshire, and Shropshire, and ...

from 1961 to 1964. He worked as a stockbroker from 1964 to 1974, and he was a member of the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

from 1970 to 1974. From 1975 to 1980, he was marketing director of Brahmco International. He worked for Ralph Lauren Cosmetics from 1979 to 1983. He then worked for Abbey Lubbock and Abbey Sports and Events from 1984 to 1992. He was a business partner of

Prince Michael of Kent Prince Michael of Kent, (Michael George Charles Franklin; born 4 July 1942) is a member of the British royal family, who is 51st in the line of succession to the British throne as of September 2022. Queen Elizabeth II and Michael were first ...

Philanthropy

Reading was Chairman of the Land's End John o' Groats Club from 1992 to 1996. He served as director of the

Global Flying Hospitals Global Flying Hospitals (GFH) is the humanitarian medical charity based in Macau SAR. It is the Logistics Resource to the world's humanitarian medical charities. It was founded in 2001 in the US, by Australian born Neill Newton, to provide medical ...

from 1996 to 2000. From 1990 to 2000, he was president of the

Dean Close School Dean Close School is a public school in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school is divided into pre-prep, preparatory and senior schools located on separate but adjacent sites outside Cheltenham town centre, occupying the largest private ...

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

. He has served on the Board of Directors of

CURE International CURE International (also known as CURE, formerly Crippled Children's United Rehabilitation Effort or CCURE or C²URE) is a Christian nonprofit organization based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. CURE's efforts are focused on providing medical care to c ...

since 2004, and of the Mertens House in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

since 2008. He served as a member of the Council of the

Garden Tomb The Garden Tomb ( he, גן הקבר) is a rock-cut tomb in Jerusalem, which was unearthed in 1867 and is considered by some Protestants to be the site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus. The tomb has been dated by Israeli archaeologist G ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

from 2002 to 2008. He is a patron of the Nelson Recovery Trust and, since 1998, of the

Barnabas Fund The Barnabas Fund is an international, interdenominational Christian aid agency based in Coventry, in the West Midlands of England that supports Christians who face discrimination or persecution as a consequence of their faith. It was established ...

. In 2003, he criticized the decision made by the vice-chancellor of the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

Alasdair Smith Alasdair Smith DL is a former professor of economics and Vice-Chancellor at the University of Sussex and is a former Chair of the 1994 Group. He is a noted international economist whose studies (often developed in concert with fellow economist T ...

, to sell

Swanborough Manor Swanborough Manor is a listed English manor dating back to the 12th century in Iford, East Sussex. Overview It is located on Swanborough Drove in Iford, East Sussex. It was built in about 1200. However, it was extended in the 15th century, with ...

Iford, East Sussex Iford is a village and civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The village is located two miles (3.2 km) south of Lewes. The parish lies on slopes of the South Downs in the valley of the River Ouse. Notable b ...

, which was donated by his step-great-grandmother,

Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading, Baroness Swanborough, GBE (6 January 1894 – 22 May 1971), née Stella Charnaud, was an English philanthropist who is best remembered as the founder and chairman of the Women's Voluntary Service (WVS), n ...

(1894–1971), in the hope that it would serve as the main residence of the vice-chancellor until 2021.James Trollope
The manor of its going
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'', 15 March 2003 In May 2022 Lord Reading was one of the Patrons of The Royal Versailles Ball, a charitable event which took place at the

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...

. Earlier that year, he was awarded the

Order of Menelik II The Imperial Order of Emperor Menelik II is an Ethiopian order established in 1924 by then-Regent Tafari Makonnen, during the reign of Empress Zewditu I, in order to honor the memory of Emperor Menelik II. The Imperial Order was often referred t ...

(Grand Cross) by the

Crown Council of Ethiopia The Crown Council of Ethiopia is a community organization and cultural center with the mission of preserving the culture(s) of the former Ethiopian Empire, as well as promoting development and humanitarian efforts. Today, the Crown Council abando ...

for his charitable work.

Personal life

Lord Reading married Melinda Dewar on 12 May 1979. They have three children: *Lady Sybilla Alice Rufus Isaacs (3 November 1980) she married Charles B. B. Hart on 9 July 2005. They have four children: *

Lady Natasha Rufus Isaacs Lady Natasha Rose Eleanor Finch, known by her maiden name as Lady Natasha Rufus Isaacs (born 24 April 1983 in Swindon, Wiltshire), is an English aristocrat, socialite, and founder of Beulah London. Early life Rufus Isaacs is the second chil ...

(24 April 1983) she married Charles Finch on 8 June 2013. They have three daughters. *Julian Rufus Isaacs, Viscount Erleigh (26 May 1986) In May 2021 he announced his intention to seek

Israeli citizenship Israeli citizenship law details the conditions by which a person holds citizenship of Israel. The two primary pieces of legislation governing these requirements are the 1950 Law of Return and 1952 Citizenship Law. Every Jew in the world has ...

References

External links

Margot Irene, Marchioness of Reading
{{DEFAULTSORT:Isaacs, Simon 1942 births Living people English Jews English people of Portuguese-Jewish descent English people of German-Jewish descent People from Bisley, Gloucestershire English bankers English philanthropists 4

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

Recipients of orders, decorations, and medals of Ethiopia