Simon Sainsbury

Simon David Davan Sainsbury (1 March 1930 – 27 September 2006) was a British businessman, philanthropist and art collector.

Early life Sainsbury was born in London, the middle son of Alan Sainsbury and his wife Doreen. His brothers are John; Timothy, former Conservative Minister of Trade. David Sainsbury, Labour life peer and Minister for Science, is a cousin. After National Service as "sports officer" in the Life Guards, he studied history at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Career Sainsbury trained as a chartered accountant after leaving university. He joined the finance department of the family company, then known as J. Sainsbury, in 1956 and became a director in 1959,

Charitable works

He established The Monument Trust in 1965, which gave grants of more than £100 million over the following 40 years. Following riots in 1991, the Trust was also involved in renovations of the Meadow Well housing estate in North Tyneside. More recently, it funded an extension of the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester to house the large art collection of Sir Colin St John Wilson. Simon Sainsbury also personally supported research into HIV and AIDS. He and his brothers funded an extension to the National Gallery, London at a cost of around £50 million, which opened in 1991 as the Sainsbury Wing. The Trust also supported the British Museum, the Royal Academy, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the Landmark Trust, the Tate Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, and the restoration of Christ Church Spitalfields. The Daylit Gallery at the Victoria and Albert Museum is named in his honour. He was a trustee of the Wallace Collection from 1977 to 1997, and a trustee of the National Gallery from 1991 to 1998. He also supported the National Theatre and the Royal Opera House. He refused all public honours, and declined an entry in Who's Who.

Personal life Near the end of his life, Sainsbury entered into a civil partnership with his partner of 40 years, Stewart Grimshaw, a restaurateur and bookseller. He suffered from Parkinson's disease in his later years, and ultimately suffered a fall which caused his death. In 2008, the National Gallery received five works, by Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin, and Henri Rousseau, and the Tate thirteen, including works by Balthus and Lucian Freud.