| Alec Wildenstein | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 5, 1940 Marseille, Bouches-du-Rhône, France |
| Died | February 18, 2008 (aged 67) Paris, France |
| Cause of death | Prostate cancer |
| Occupation | Art dealer, racehorse owner and breeder |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Spouse | Jocelyne Périsset Liouba Stoupakova |
| Children | Diane Wildenstein Alec Wildenstein, Jr. |
| Parents | Daniel Wildenstein & Martine Kapferrer |
| Relatives | Guy Wildenstein (brother) |
Alec Nathan Wildenstein (August 5, 1940 – February 18, 2008) was a billionaire French businessman, art dealer and racehorse owner and breeder.
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Born in Marseille, Wildenstein was raised in New York City where his family owned and operated an art gallery. In 1875, his great-grandfather founded a business dealing in art. His father, Daniel Wildenstein, was a distinguished scholar of impressionism whose career and dominant personality overshadowed his son's achievements. Daniel Wildenstein did not think a university education was necessary for his two sons to work in the family business. Daniel Wildenstein had a passion for racehorses, which his son shared.
Upon his father's death in 2001, Alec Wildenstein inherited half of a business empire estimated at $10 billion USD and included what was believed to be the world's largest private collection of major works of art.
Alec Wildenstein enjoyed thoroughbreds for flat and steeplechase and standardbreds for harness racing. His Ecurie Wildenstein racing stable hired Elie Lellouche and Dominique Sepulchre to train his flat horses, and Jean-Paul Gallorini and Marcel Rolland for his steeplechase runners. Wildenstein raced a number of successful horses including:
In 2004, Wildenstein's steeplechase runner, Kotkijet, owned in partnership with Jean-Pierre Dubois, won his second Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris.[1]
In 1977, his family purchased a 49% stake for Wildenstein in the 66,000-acre (270 km2) Ol Jogi Ranch[2] on the Laikipia Plateau in Kenya. In 1985, the family acquired complete ownership. He met Jocelyne Périsset (born abt 1946) when she was a guest at Ol Jogi Ranch and they were married on April 30, 1978. They had a daughter, Diane, followed by a son, Alec. Jr. Their divorce proceedings between 1997 and 1999 gained wide media coverage for revelations about the couple's extravagant spending habits and Jocelyn Wildenstein's fondness for plastic surgery.[3][4] Alec was forced to pay her $2.5 billion upon the settlement and $100 million each year for the next 13 years. Their two children received over $10 billion in cash, art and real estate; they also control the 20 billion dollar art empire.
Wildenstein died at age 67 in 2008 of prostate cancer.[5] He is survived by his two children and his second wife, Liouba Stoupakova, a native of Russia whom he married in 2000. Liouba Stoupakova received nothing from his estate.