Ernest Oppenheimer

Ernest Oppenheimer (right) (Amsterdam, 1945)

Sir Ernest Oppenheimer (22 May 1880 – 25 November 1957) was a diamond and gold mining entrepreneur, financier and philanthropist, who controlled De Beers and founded the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa.

Career

He was born in Friedberg, Germany, the son of Edward Oppenheimer, a cigar merchant. Oppenheimer began his working life at 17, when he entered Dunkelsbuhler & Company, a diamond brokerage in London. His efforts impressed his employer and in 1902, at the age of 22, he was sent to South Africa to represent the company as a buyer in Kimberley, where he eventually rose to the position of mayor.

He became great friends with William Lincoln Honnold, an American engineer, chairman Transvaal Coal Trust, Brakpan Mines, Springs Mines and The New Era Company.

In 1917, they launched the Anglo American Corporation with financial assistance from J. P. Morgan. The initial capital was £1 million. Half of the capital was subscribed in America and half in England and South Africa.[1]

In 1927, Ernest Oppenheimer managed to wrest control of Cecil Rhodes's De Beers empire and built and consolidated the company's global monopoly over the world's diamond industry until his retirement.

He was involved in a number of controversies, including price fixing, antitrust behaviour and an allegation of not releasing industrial diamonds for the US war effort during World War II.[2][3]

He died in Johannesburg in 1957. He was born into a Jewish family, but as an adult, he converted to Anglicanism and was buried at St George's Church, Parktown. He was succeeded in the business by his son Harry Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer's brother, Sir Bernard Oppenheimer, was also heavily involved in the diamond industry.

In 1964, the Oppenheimer Diamond was named in his honour by its owner, Harry Winston, who donated the stone (not a gem, as it remains uncut and unpolished) to the Smithsonian Institution as a memorial.

See also

References

  1. ↑ H. F. Oppenheimer, R. B. Hagart, W. D. Wilson, Francis Whitmore, H. MacConachie, Dr. J. E. Holloway, Optima, September 1967 Volume seventeen number three, Commemorates the Fiftieth Anniversary of Anglo American Corporation September 25th 1967, p.97.
  2. ↑ Janine P. Roberts (2003). Glitter & Greed. The Disinformation Company. ISBN 0-9713942-9-6. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
  3. ↑ Theodor Emanuel Gregory (1977). Ernest Oppenheimer and the Economic Development of Southern Africa. Arno Press. Retrieved 2008-11-27.
  4. ↑ http://www.debeersgroup.com/en/our-story/our-history.html
Preceded by
Cecil Rhodes		 Chairman of De Beers Consolidated Mines
circa 1925–1957 		Succeeded by
Harry Oppenheimer
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