David Bloomberg

David Bloomberg (1932 – 26 October 2020) was a former Mayor of Cape Town, lawyer, anti-apartheid campaigner, theatre columnist, theatre director and author.

Early life Bloomberg was born in the Cape Town suburb of Sea Point in 1932, and educated at Christian Brother's College and the University of Cape Town. His father, Abe Bloomberg, was a leading lawyer, MP, and the Mayor of Cape Town from 1945 to 1947, and his mother, Miriam, was a ballerina and ballet teacher.

Career Bloomberg joined his father's law firm, Bloomberg, Baigel & Co. where he made his name as a lawyer. He was the defence attorney for Dimitri Tsafendas, who fatally stabbed the Prime Minister, Dr H.F. Verwoerd, in Parliament in 1966. He was also passionate about the Arts and created the Barn Theatre in the garden of his family's home in Constantia. He later joined the Board of Patrons for the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. A one-time theatre columnist for the Cape Times, he published seven books.

Personal life Bloomberg was a keen tennis player and played doubles in the Western Province Open Tennis Championships. He subsequently returned from Lugano to Cape Town. He died from COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa, on 26 October 2020. He is buried at the Jewish cemetery in Pinelands.

Writings Meet the People (1975) My Times (an autobiography, 2007), Won’t Forgive… Can’t Forget (2006) The Chain Gang: Mayors who Served in Cape Town's City Hall (2011) Simon's Destiny (2012) The Don ... Story of an Actor (2014) The Lion and the Thespian (2017)