Evelyn de Rothschild

Sir Evelyn Robert Adrian de Rothschild (29 August 1931 – 7 November 2022) was a British financier and a member of the Rothschild family. Evelyn de Rothschild was born on 29 August 1931, to a Jewish family. The son of Anthony Gustav de Rothschild (1887–1961) and Yvonne Lydia Louise Cahen d'Anvers (1899–1977), he was named after his uncle Evelyn Achille de Rothschild who was killed in action in World War I. Evelyn de Rothschild spent several of his boyhood years in the United States during World War II. He was a pupil at Harrow School and then studied history at Trinity College, Cambridge, but dropped out before gaining a degree. Born into great wealth, he became one of England's most eligible bachelors, spending his youth travelling, socialising, driving exotic sports cars, enjoying thoroughbred horse racing and playing polo. It was not until age 26 that he decided to join N M Rothschild & Sons banking house to be trained in the family's business. In 1955, a couple of years prior to Sir Evelyn's entry into the family's business, his father had to retire from the position of chairman due to illness and his cousin Victor Rothschild took over as chairman. Evelyn de Rothschild was appointed a director of Paris-based de Rothschild Frères in 1968 while Guy de Rothschild from the French branch of the family became a partner at N M Rothschild & Sons. In 1976, he took over as bank chairman from Victor Rothschild and in 1982 became chairman of Rothschilds Continuation Holdings AG, the co-ordinating company for the merchant banking group. He became co-chairman of Rothschild Bank A.G., Zurich in 1994, serving until 2003 when he oversaw the merger of the family's French and UK houses. David René de Rothschild of the French branch took over as executive chairman of Rothschild International after the different branches had been merged and Sir Evelyn continued as non-executive chairman of N M Rothschild & Sons. In 2003, he founded with his wife, Lynn Forester de Rothschild, a holding company, E.L.