Marcus Sieff, Baron Sieff of Brimpton, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Marcus Sieff, Baron Sieff of Brimpton

British businessman and Baron

Date of Birth: 02-Jul-1913

Place of Birth: Didsbury, England, United Kingdom

Date of Death: 23-Feb-2001

Profession: writer, businessperson, author

Nationality: United Kingdom

Zodiac Sign: Cancer


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About Marcus Sieff, Baron Sieff of Brimpton

  • Marcus Joseph Sieff, Baron Sieff of Brimpton OBE (2 July 1913 – 23 February 2001) was a British businessman and chairman of his family company, the retailer Marks & Spencer, from 1972 to 1982.
  • He was also a leading figure in UK Zionism.Sieff was born in Didsbury, Manchester, the second son of Israel Sieff.
  • Starting work for the family company in Hammersmith, London in 1935, Sieff first visited Mandatory Palestine in 1939.
  • He joined the Royal Artillery in the British Army at the outbreak of World War II and received an OBE in 1944 for gallant service.
  • Exiting the British Army with the rank of colonel, he returned to Marks & Spencer, but was asked in 1948 by the first Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, to become an adviser on transportation and supplies to the Israeli Defence ministry.
  • Sieff joined the Israel Defense Forces and helped co-ordinate Marks & Spencer goods and finances to support the new state.Sieff returned to Britain in 1951 to take over the Marks & Spencer food department.
  • He later became chairman of the Export Committee for Israel (1965 to 1968), honorary president of the Joint Israel Appeal, president of the Anglo-Israel chamber of commerce and Chancellor of the Weizmann Institute of Science.
  • In 1974 the British Foreign Secretary James Callaghan asked Sieff to become the UK's Ambassador to Israel, but Sieff declined.
  • Under Sieff's management the Marks & Spencer food department expanded from 14% of total sales in 1956 to over 25% in 1968.
  • He was made a director and chairman in 1974 and served on the board until his death.
  • After stepping down as chairman in 1984, he became honorary life president.
  • In retirement he was a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery and the first chairman of Newspaper Publishing, the publishers of The Independent, from 1986 to 1993.Sieff was knighted in 1971 and was created a life peer on 14 February 1980 as Baron Sieff of Brimpton, of Brimpton in the Royal County of Berkshire.
  • Married four times, Sieff's fourth wife was a Polish widow, Lily Moretzki (née Spatz), whom he married in London in 1963.
  • She ran most of his charitable associations and then nursed him during his final years.
  • One of his sons Sir David Sieff was served on the board of Marks & Spencers for many years.

Read more at Wikipedia

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