Ernest Oppenheimer

Sir Ernest Oppenheimer (22 May 1880 – 25 November 1957) was a South African diamond and gold mining entrepreneur, financier and philanthropist, who controlled De Beers and founded the Anglo American Corporation in the Union of South Africa.

Career Ernest Oppenheimer was born in Friedberg, German Empire, to a German-Jewish family. He was the son of Edward Oppenheimer, a cigar merchant, and his wife, Nanette (née Hirschhorn) Oppenheimer. He began his working life at 17, when he entered Dunkelsbuhler & Company, a diamond brokerage in London. In this role, he helped raise the manpower for the Kimberley Regiment for service during World War I. In 1917, they launched the Anglo American Corporation with financial assistance from J. P. Morgan. He would remain as a permanent director and its chairman until 1953.

In 1952, he was appointed as a Knight of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.

Personal life Ernest Oppenheimer married Mary Lina Pollak in 1906 in a Jewish ceremony in London, with a marriage certificate issued by West London Synagogue, a prominent Reform synagogue. The couple had two sons.