Sir Roland Arthur Ellis Franklin (born 5 May 1926) is a British-born

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two majo ...

-based merchant banker.

Early life

Roland Franklin was born in 1926 into an affluent and influential British Jewish family. His father, Ellis Arthur Franklin (1894–1964), was a merchant banker. His sister was

Rosalind Franklin Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 192016 April 1958) was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, ...

, the scientist whose research led to discovery of the structure of DNA. His brother is the bibliographer Colin Ellis Franklin.

Banking and Business career

Franklin is a merchant banker, and a former director of

Keyser Ullman Keyser Ullman was a British merchant bank, based in London and founded in 1868. History Foundation Samuel Montagu (1832–1911) and his two original partners in the bank Samuel Montagu & Co., Ellis Abraham Franklin (1822–1909) and Edwin Louis ...

, the British merchant bank that failed in the 1973-74 banking crisis. He had a long business partnership with the corporate raider

James Goldsmith Sir James Michael Goldsmith (26 February 1933 – 18 July 1997) was a French-British financier, tycoon''Billionaire: The Life and Times of Sir James Goldsmith'' by Ivan Fallon and politician who was a member of the Goldsmith family. His cont ...

. As Goldsmith began winding down his US operations in 1987, Roland Franklin set up the Pembridge group together with his son Martin E. Franklin. Together they undertook a series of transactions between 1987 and 1989, the largest of which was the $1.3 billion hostile takeover of the

Dickinson Robinson Group The Dickinson Robinson Group, or DRG, was a listed British paper, printing and packaging company founded in 1966 as a result of a merger of John Dickinson Stationery Ltd and E. S. & A. Robinson Ltd, creating one of the world's largest stationery an ...

(DRG). Roland Franklin appointed his son as the chief executive officer of DRG, with the goal of breaking up the conglomerate via a series of asset sales. Roland Franklin retired from active business in 1991, leaving Martin Franklin and Ian Ashken to oversee the final DRG asset sales. In 1992 they returned to the US with the intention of using their experience at DRG to build, rather than break up companies.

Defence of Israel

In June 2015, Franklin published an opinion piece in '' j.'', a Northern California Jewish newspaper, arguing that the

Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA; fa, برنامه جامع اقدام مشترک , barnāmeye jāme'e eqdāme moshtarak (, ''BARJAM'')), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, is an agreement on the Iranian nuclear ...

, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, would be "the first step on the path to World War III." He went on to compare U.S. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

to British Prime Minister

Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeaseme ...

prior to World War II, suggesting, "Obama is betraying Israel.". He concluded that Iran "should be treated as an extremely dangerous pariah."

Personal life

Franklin is married to Lady Nina Franklin. They reside in

Jumby Bay Long Island also known as Jumby Bay is an island off the northeast coast of Antigua. It is located off the northern tip of the Parham Peninsula, about from ''Dutchman Bay'' on Antigua. It is the fifth largest island of Antigua and Barbuda. Fl ...

, a private island off the coast of

Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...

. Their son Martin Ellis Franklin is the co-founder and chairman of

Jarden Jarden was an American consumer products company. Formed by the spin out of Ball Corporation's canning business, the company became a wider conglomerate of consumer brands, particularly in the outdoors and home appliances market. Jarden was acqui ...

References

Living people 1926 births English bankers English Jews

Roland Roland (; frk, *Hrōþiland; lat-med, Hruodlandus or ''Rotholandus''; it, Orlando or ''Rolando''; died 15 August 778) was a Frankish military leader under Charlemagne who became one of the principal figures in the literary cycle known as the ...

British emigrants to Antigua and Barbuda {{Judaism-bio-stub