Billionaire Smoker - How could you be more content?
Anton Rupert, who has died aged 89, was one of South Africa's most eminent industrialists and philanthropists; in classic rags-to-riches fashion, he started with a £10 investment which he eventually transformed into an multi-million pound international financial conglomerate.
During the apartheid era, Rupert developed a business empire based on tobacco, liquor and luxury goods which extended to 35 countries and was worth some $10 billion. He was listed in Forbes magazine as among the 500 richest men in the world.
A courteous, quietly-spoken Afrikaner, Rupert was a passionate conservationist, becoming a founder of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and promoting the concept of trans-frontier reserves - called "peace parks" - under which some of southern Africa's largest national parks are being amalgamated across national boundaries. He also co-operated with former president Nelson Mandela and his successor, Thabo Mbeki, in shaping South Africa's black empowerment policy, under which the country's businesses, great and small, are being opened up to encourage black entrepreneurship and active participation in the economy.
Anton Edward Rupert was born at the Karoo town of Graff-Reinet on October 4 1916. He helped to pay his way through the University of Pretoria by starting a dry-cleaning business, which soon went bankrupt. It was to be his worst, and most salutary, business failure. After completing his masters degree in Chemistry he tinkered with hand-rolling cigarettes in a garage at his home.
Calculating that there would always be a great demand for tobacco, regardless of what happened in the world, he developed a cigarette-making company named Voorbrand, soon to be renamed Rembrandt Ltd, whose overseas tobacco interests were eventually consolidated in Rothmans. He made his first investment in liquor in 1945, running the Distillers Corporation which did much to lift the status of South African wines internationally.
Using his flair for marketing, Rupert soon acquired interests in an array of South African companies ranging from gold mining to banking and medical supply interests, demonstrating a shrewdness that belied his modest, self-effacing demeanour. As South Africa became increasingly isolated because of its apartheid policies, Rupert moved his major interests, including Rothmans, offshore by establishing the Luxembourg-listed Richemont company. He anticipated the growing aversion from tobacco products and, through Richemont, diversified into luxury goods with Cartier, Montblanc and Dunhill.
Rupert's own aversion from his country's apartheid policies was expressed quietly but forcefully. He did not get on well with Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, regarded as the founder of apartheid, which Rupert considered a misguided vision of South Africa's future. In the 1980s he publicly urged the government of PW Botha to "get rid of the dead, stinking albatross of apartheid".
He maintained steady behind-the-scenes pressure on successive white South African governments to look for an alternative policy that would involve partnership with the black majority. This contributed greatly to the eventual release of Nelson Mandela, free and fair elections and the advent of majority government. Partnership had been the cornerstone of his business philosophy, and he saw no reason why it could not apply to politics.
Rupert retired from the active day-to-day running of his empire in 1990, handing over the reins to his son, Johan. He continued with lively participation and sponsorship of his many other interests in the arts and in conservation.
He remained a moderate cigarette smoker until the end, believing that he had to demonstrate some loyalty to the product on which his fortune had been based.
Doctors said that he never fully recovered from the loss of his wife, Huberte, who died aged 86 in October last year after 60 years of marriage. Anton Rupert died at his home in Stellenbosch on January 18. He is survived by a son and a daughter.
During the apartheid era, Rupert developed a business empire based on tobacco, liquor and luxury goods which extended to 35 countries and was worth some $10 billion. He was listed in Forbes magazine as among the 500 richest men in the world.
A courteous, quietly-spoken Afrikaner, Rupert was a passionate conservationist, becoming a founder of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and promoting the concept of trans-frontier reserves - called "peace parks" - under which some of southern Africa's largest national parks are being amalgamated across national boundaries. He also co-operated with former president Nelson Mandela and his successor, Thabo Mbeki, in shaping South Africa's black empowerment policy, under which the country's businesses, great and small, are being opened up to encourage black entrepreneurship and active participation in the economy.
Anton Edward Rupert was born at the Karoo town of Graff-Reinet on October 4 1916. He helped to pay his way through the University of Pretoria by starting a dry-cleaning business, which soon went bankrupt. It was to be his worst, and most salutary, business failure. After completing his masters degree in Chemistry he tinkered with hand-rolling cigarettes in a garage at his home.
Calculating that there would always be a great demand for tobacco, regardless of what happened in the world, he developed a cigarette-making company named Voorbrand, soon to be renamed Rembrandt Ltd, whose overseas tobacco interests were eventually consolidated in Rothmans. He made his first investment in liquor in 1945, running the Distillers Corporation which did much to lift the status of South African wines internationally.
Using his flair for marketing, Rupert soon acquired interests in an array of South African companies ranging from gold mining to banking and medical supply interests, demonstrating a shrewdness that belied his modest, self-effacing demeanour. As South Africa became increasingly isolated because of its apartheid policies, Rupert moved his major interests, including Rothmans, offshore by establishing the Luxembourg-listed Richemont company. He anticipated the growing aversion from tobacco products and, through Richemont, diversified into luxury goods with Cartier, Montblanc and Dunhill.
Rupert's own aversion from his country's apartheid policies was expressed quietly but forcefully. He did not get on well with Dr Hendrik Verwoerd, regarded as the founder of apartheid, which Rupert considered a misguided vision of South Africa's future. In the 1980s he publicly urged the government of PW Botha to "get rid of the dead, stinking albatross of apartheid".
He maintained steady behind-the-scenes pressure on successive white South African governments to look for an alternative policy that would involve partnership with the black majority. This contributed greatly to the eventual release of Nelson Mandela, free and fair elections and the advent of majority government. Partnership had been the cornerstone of his business philosophy, and he saw no reason why it could not apply to politics.
Rupert retired from the active day-to-day running of his empire in 1990, handing over the reins to his son, Johan. He continued with lively participation and sponsorship of his many other interests in the arts and in conservation.
He remained a moderate cigarette smoker until the end, believing that he had to demonstrate some loyalty to the product on which his fortune had been based.
Doctors said that he never fully recovered from the loss of his wife, Huberte, who died aged 86 in October last year after 60 years of marriage. Anton Rupert died at his home in Stellenbosch on January 18. He is survived by a son and a daughter.
posted by Lawrence at 1:52 pm
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