Jonathan Ruffer

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Jonathan Ruffer
Born
Jonathan Garnier Ruffer (1951-08-17) 17 August 1951 (age 70)
EducationMarlborough College
Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
OccupationCity investor, art collector
Spouse(s)Jane Sequeira
Children1 daughter

Jonathan Ruffer DL (born 17 August 1951) is a British City investor, art collector and philanthropist.

Early life[]

Jonathan Ruffer was born on 17 August 1951 in London, England, and lived from an early age in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, England.[1][2][3] He was educated at Marlborough College, a public school in Marlborough, Wiltshire.[1] He graduated from Sidney Sussex College, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, in 1972.[1][4]

Career[]

Ruffer started as a stockbroker, before becoming a barrister.[5] He is now a Bencher of the Middle Temple. He worked in corporate finance for Schroders, an accepting house bank.[4][6] He worked for Dunbar, a private bank,[7] from 1980 to 1985.[1] He was also on the board of directors of one of its subsidiaries, Dunbar Fund Management, from 1981 to 1985.[7] He was then on the board of CFS (renamed Rathbone plc) from 1985 to 1994.[1] He was on the board of Odey Asset Management, founded by Crispin Odey, from 1992 to 2005; Fuel Tech from 1994 to 1998; and Electric & General Investment Trust from 2001 to 2011.[1]

In 1994, he co-founded Ruffer Investment Management Limited, an investment management firm with Robert Shirley, 14th Earl Ferrers (then Viscount Tamworth) and Jane Tufnell.[2][8] The firm was renamed Ruffer LLP in 2004 and is now based at 80 Victoria Street in London.[2][9] Ruffer was its chief executive officer from 1994 to 2012[1] and has been its chairman since 2011.[1] The firm managed £15.4 billion on behalf of its clients in 2012–2013.[7] In 2014, it had 199 employees,[2] and additional offices in Edinburgh and Hong Kong.[10]

He is a research fellow at St John's College, Durham.[4] He has published articles in The Spectator.[11]

According to the Sunday Times Rich List in 2020, Ruffer is worth an estimated £159 million, an increase of £8 million from the previous year.[12]

Philanthropy[]

Ruffer credits William Rathbone VI as a source of inspiration for his philanthropy.[13] He believes nobody needs more than £20 million.[13] However, he is critical of William Temple's Christian socialism.[13]

He served as the chairman of the Good Shepherd Mission in Bethnal Green from 1998 to 2008.[1] He has also supported the Church Urban Fund.[14]

Auckland Castle in Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

He expressed an interest in reviving County Durham through philanthropy in 2012.[3] That same year, he donated £1 million to the Durham Foundation.[15] A year later, in 2013, he donated £15 million to preserve Auckland Castle, the historical palace of the Bishop of Durham, through the Auckland Castle Trust,[13][16] of which he is the chair.[17][18] This included the preservation of 12 paintings by Francisco de Zurbarán, present in the palace since 1756.[13][18][19] In 2013, he donated £18 million to restore the Bishop's Palace and create a museum on the history of Christianity and faith in Britain, which had been expected to open in 2018.[13][16]

The restoration project was completed in 2019 and the Castle was scheduled to re-open to visitors in November;[20][21] three new restaurants for visitors were added, with one in operation by early November 2019.[22][23] Nonetheless, the Scotland Wing still houses the offices of the Bishop of Durham.[24] In 2019, he worked with Sotheby's James Macdonald (an expert on the Spanish school) to assemble a collection displayed at the Spanish Gallery.[25]

In 2014, Ruffer donated the endowment to create Kynren, a night show telling the history of England, in nearby Bishop Auckland to aid in wider regeneration.[26]

He has endowed the Jonathan Ruffer curatorial grants at The Art Fund, which give £75,000 to curators every year.[27]

Art collection[]

Ruffer collects Spanish old masters.[13] He also owns paintings by Thomas Gainsborough.[28]

Personal life[]

Isaac Henrique Sequeira, by Thomas Gainsborough.
Museo del Prado, Madrid.

Ruffer is married to Jane Sequeira, a doctor, and palliative care specialist.[4][29] They have a daughter.[4] She is a descendant of Isaac Henrique Sequeira (1738-1816), a Portuguese Jewish doctor, who was painted by Thomas Gainsborough, one of his patients, and that oil painting now hangs in Madrid's Museo del Prado.[30][31]

An Anglican,[16] he has been described by the Financial Times as "a committed evangelical Christian"[13] and The Yorkshire Post as "a devout Christian."[2] He is a member of the Athenaeum Club and the Beefsteak Club.[1] As of 2014, he had an estimated wealth of £380 million.[13]

Bibliography[]

  • The Big Shots (1977).
  • Babel, the Breaking of the Banks (2009)

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j Jonathan Garnier Ruffer Archived 26 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Debrett's
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Ruffer LLP pays member of firm £18m, Yorkshire Post, 28 December 2014
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Millionaire Jonathan Ruffer pledges to tackle deprivation, BBC, 25 January 2012
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "St John's College : Jonathan Ruffer - Durham University". www.dur.ac.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  5. ^ "Sunday Times Rich List". The Sunday Times (42). 18 May 2014. ISSN 0956-1382.
  6. ^ Jonathan Ruffer, Bloomberg Business
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c Philip Beresford, Britain's Top 100 Entrepreneurs 2014: No. 10 – Jonathan Ruffer, Ruffer Management: The investment entrepreneur is worth £380m. Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Management Today, 26 October 2014
  8. ^ Julia Rampen, Ruffer co-founder steps down, Investment Week, 4 April 2014
  9. ^ "Investment Funds - Investment Management - London, Edinburgh, Guernsey - UK - Ruffer". www.ruffer.co.uk. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  10. ^ Katie Holliday, Jonathan Ruffer steps back from Ruffer Investments, Investment Week, 11 April 2012
  11. ^ "Author: Jonathan Ruffer - The Spectator". The Spectator. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  12. ^ Times, The Sunday. "Rich List 2020: profiles 703-799=, featuring Eric Clapton and Rory McIlroy". ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i A N Wilson, Man on a mission: Jonathan Ruffer and the Auckland Castle Trust, Financial Times, 7 November 2014
  14. ^ "Millionaire Jonathan Ruffer pledges to tackle deprivation". BBC. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  15. ^ Jonathan Ruffer donates £1m donation to Durham foundation, The Journal, 7 September 2012
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b c Charles Moore, The great Auckland Castle rescue, The Daily Telegraph, 18 May 2013
  17. ^ "Auckland Castle". Auckland Castle. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  18. ^ Jump up to: a b Heritage Exchange 2014: Jonathan Ruffer Archived 15 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  19. ^ Francisco Zurbaran paintings saved by £15m donation, BBC, 31 March 2011
  20. ^ "Auckland Castle in Durham to open to public after £12.4m restoration". The Guardian. 25 October 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  21. ^ Simpson, Harriet Agerholm, Emma; Palumbo, Daniele (3 March 2020). "The multimillionaire's plan to reinvent a town". BBC News. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  22. ^ "Auckland Castle to re-open after multimillion-pound restoration". BBC. 11 September 2019. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  23. ^ "Eat & shop". The Auckland Project. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  24. ^ "The Bishops of Durham Through Time". The Auckland Project. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
  25. ^ Gates, Anita (17 April 2018). "Private Sales Offer Art for a Few Eyes Only". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  26. ^ Benefactor plans theme park for Bishop Auckland, ITV, 3 April 2014
  27. ^ Fund, Art. "Jonathan Ruffer curatorial grants". artfund.org. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  28. ^ Whetstone, David (20 June 2019). "One of the most beautiful settings imaginable for an exhibition like this". nechronicle. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  29. ^ "Zurbarans' trustees revealed by owner". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
  30. ^ País, Ediciones El (24 April 2011). "Reportaje - El salvador de los 'zurbarán'". Retrieved 5 February 2018 – via elpais.com.
  31. ^ "Isaac Henrique Sequeira - The Collection - Museo Nacional del Prado". www.museodelprado.es. Retrieved 5 February 2018.

External links[]

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