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

British peer A Peerage is a form of crown distinction, with Peerages in the United Kingdom comprising both hereditary and lifetime titled appointments of various ranks, which form both a constituent part of the legislative process and the British hono ...

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, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private good, focusing on material ...

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 ...

, and his mother was Margot Irene (née Duke).National Portrait Gallery
/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 Party (UK), Liberal then Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician. ...

. His paternal great-grandfather was

Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading Rufus Daniel Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading (10 October 1860 – 30 December 1935), known as the Earl of Reading from 1917 to 1926, was a British Liberal politician and judge, who served as Lord Chief Justice of England, Viceroy of India, and S ...

. 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 Eng ...

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

Alfred Moritz Mond, 1st Baron Melchett Alfred Moritz Mond, 1st Baron Melchett, Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, PC, Royal Society, FRS, Deputy Lieutenant, DL (23 October 1868 – 27 December 1930), known as Sir Alfred Mond, Bt between 1910 and 1928, was a British Busines ...

, and Violet Mond, Baroness Melchett. 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 in ...

, chemist and industrialist, who created the

Mond process The Mond process, sometimes known as the carbonyl process, is a technique created by Ludwig Mond in 1890, to extract and purify nickel. The process was used commercially before the end of the 19th century, and particularly by the International N ...

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 (RAC) of the British Army. Nicknamed The Welsh Cavalry, the regiment recruits from Wales and the bordering English counties of Cheshire, Herefordshire, and Shropshir ...

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

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

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 53rd in line to the British throne as of 2025. The younger son of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina of Gr ...

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 co-educational private boarding and day school (for pupils aged 3–18) in the public school tradition, located in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1886 and is divided into pre-prep, prepa ...

Cheltenham, Gloucestershire Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

. He has served on the Board of Directors of

CURE International CURE International, based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Grand Rapids, MI, is a Christian nonprofit organization that owns and operates eight charitable children's hospitals around the world. CURE provides medical care to pediatric patients with Orth ...

since 2004, and of the Mertens House in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

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

Garden Tomb The Garden Tomb (; ) is an ancient rock-cut tomb in Jerusalem that functions as a site of Christian pilgrimage attracting hundreds of thousands of annual visitors, especially Evangelicals and other Protestants, as some Protestant Christians c ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

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

Barnabas Fund Barnabas Aid is an international, interdenominational Christian aid agency that supports Christians who face discrimination or persecution as a consequence of their faith. It was established in 1993 and channels aid to projects run by national ...

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

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

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 ...

, to sell Swanborough Manor in

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

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

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

(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 British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 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 ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

. Earlier that year, he was awarded the

Order of Menelik II The Imperial Order of Emperor Menelik II is an Ethiopian Order (decoration), order established in 1924 by then-Regent Haile Selassie, Tafari Makonnen, during the reign of Zewditu I of Ethiopia, Empress Zewditu I, in order to honor the memory of Em ...

(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 has aba ...

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 (; born 24 April 1983) is an English aristocrat, fashion designer and founder of Beulah London. Early life Isaacs is the second child of Simon Isaacs, 4th Marquess of Reading, and Melinda Victoria Isaacs (n� ...

(24 April 1983) she married Rupert 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 Israel has two primary pieces of legislation governing the requirements for citizenship, the 1950 Law of Return and 1952 Citizenship Law. Every Jew has the unrestricted right to immigrate to Israel and become an Israeli citizen. Individuals ...

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 symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

Recipients of orders, decorations, and medals of Ethiopia

Simon Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...