Scotsman Obituaries: Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, scion of the Rothschild financial dynasty

British financier Sir Evelyn de Rothschild has died at the age of 91.

Sir Evelyn died “peacefully at home”, his family said in a statement.

He is survived by his wife Lynn and three children Jessica, Anthony and David, as well as two step-sons, Benjamin Forester Stein and John Forester Stein.

Sir Evelyn was born in London in 1931, the son of Anthony de Rothschild and Yvonne Cahen d’Anvers of the Bischoffsheim banking family.

He was educated at Harrow School and the University of Cambridge before dedicating his life to his family’s bank after his father retired in 1961.

Sir Evelyn served as chief executive and chairman of the bank NM Rothschild and Sons Ltd from 1976-2003, and he was chairman of The Economist from 1972-1989.

In 1989 he was knighted by the Queen for services to banking and finance.

A scion of the Rothschild financial dynasty, under his watch his family’s bank’s total assets grew from £40 million to £4.6 billion.

Sir Evelyn was married three times, in 1966 to Jeannette Bishop, in 1973 to Victoria Schott and in 2000 to Lynn Forester.

He had three children with Victoria, and two step-sons with Lynn.

A keen horse trainer and owner, Sir Evelyn’s horse Crystal Ocean won the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot in 2018.

In later life Sir Evelyn turned to philanthropy, chairing the Eranda Rothschild foundation, which has donated more than £73m to medical research, education and the arts.

In 2002 he also founded Elephant Family, a conservation charity, with the Rajmata of Jaipur and Camilla, Queen Consort’s late brother Mark Shand.

LUKE O’REILLY, PA