Simon Sainsbury
Encyclopedia
The Hon Simon David Davan Sainsbury (1 March 1930 – 27 September 2006) was a British
businessman, philanthropist and art collector.
, the middle son of Alan Sainsbury
and his wife Doreen. His brothers are John
and Timothy
, former Conservative Minister of Trade; David Sainsbury
, Labour MP and Minister for Science, is a cousin. His great-grandfather, John James Sainsbury
, established a grocer's at 173 Drury Lane
in 1869 which became the British supermarket
chain Sainsbury's. Sainsbury was educated at Eton College
, where he became head of his house and President of the Eton Society ("Pop"). A keen sportsman, he was selected for the Eton-Harrow match at Lord's in 1947 as a bowler; sent in as a nightwatchman
, he scored a century
. After National Service
as "sports officer" in the Life Guards
, he read history at Trinity College, Cambridge
.
Near the end of his life, Sainsbury entered into a civil partnership with his partner for 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.
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, responsible for finance. When his brother John became chairman of Sainsbury's in 1969 and Simon was given the deputy chairmanship. In 1973, it was Simon who steered the company through what became the largest ever flotation on the London Stock Exchange
.
He established The Monument Trust in 1965, which gave grants of more than £100 million over the following 40 years. The Trust supported the Georgian Society. In 1990, he made a donation via The Monument Trust of £5 million to his alma mater
, Cambridge University
, which used the money to convert the old Addenbrooke's Hospital
building on Trumpington Street
in Cambridge into what was to become Judge Business School
. 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 renovation of Christ Church Spitalfields
. 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
.
Upon his death in 2006, Sainsbury bequeathed the cream of his art collection to the National Gallery and the Tate. The combined value of the paintings in the bequest has been estimated at £100 million. In 2008, the National Gallery will receive five works, by the artists Claude Monet
, Edgar Degas
, Paul Gauguin
, and Henri Rousseau
, and the Tate thirteen, including works by Balthus
and Lucian Freud
which will notably strengthen the Tate's holdings of those artists' works. Sir Nicholas Serota
, the director of the latter institution, called the bequest "one of the most important gifts in the history of Tate". The most recent comparable donations of artworks to the galleries are thought to be a gift to the Tate in the 1930s by Frank Stoop, and a bequest of 39 paintings to the National Gallery by Sir Hugh Lane in 1915.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
businessman, philanthropist and art collector.
Early and private life
Sainsbury was born in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, the middle son of Alan Sainsbury
Alan Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury
Alan John Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury was a British business executive and a leading member of the supermarket Sainsbury family.-Early and private life:...
and his wife Doreen. His brothers are John
John Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Preston Candover
John Davan Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Preston Candover, KG is the President of J Sainsbury, a British businessman and politician. He sits in the House of Lords as a member of the Conservative Party.-Early and private life:...
and Timothy
Tim Sainsbury
Sir Timothy Alan Davan Sainsbury is a politician and businessman in the United Kingdom.-Early life:Sainsbury is the youngest son of Lord Sainsbury and his wife Doreen...
, former Conservative Minister of Trade; David Sainsbury
David Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville
David John Sainsbury, Baron Sainsbury of Turville, FRS , is a British businessman and politician. From 1992 to 1997, he served as the Chairman of Sainsbury's . He was made a life peer in 1997, and currently sits in the House of Lords as a member of the Labour Party...
, Labour MP and Minister for Science, is a cousin. His great-grandfather, John James Sainsbury
John James Sainsbury
John James Sainsbury was the founder of the Sainsbury's supermarket chain.-Early and private life:John James Sainsbury was born on 12 June 1844 at 5 Oakley Street, Lambeth, to John Sainsbury , ornament and picture frame maker, and his wife Elizabeth Sarah, née Coombes...
, established a grocer's at 173 Drury Lane
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....
in 1869 which became the British supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
chain Sainsbury's. Sainsbury was educated at Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
, where he became head of his house and President of the Eton Society ("Pop"). A keen sportsman, he was selected for the Eton-Harrow match at Lord's in 1947 as a bowler; sent in as a nightwatchman
Nightwatchman (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a nightwatchman is a lower-order batsman who comes in to bat higher up the order than usual near the end of the day's play...
, he scored a century
Century (cricket)
In the sport of cricket, a batsman reaches his century when he scores 100 or more runs in a single innings. The term is also included in "century partnership" which occurs when two batsmen add 100 runs to the team total when they are batting together. A century is regarded as a landmark score for...
. After National Service
National service
National service is a common name for mandatory government service programmes . The term became common British usage during and for some years following the Second World War. Many young people spent one or more years in such programmes...
as "sports officer" in the Life Guards
Life Guards (British Army)
The Life Guards is the senior regiment of the British Army and with the Blues and Royals, they make up the Household Cavalry.They originated in the four troops of Horse Guards raised by Charles II around the time of his restoration, plus two troops of Horse Grenadier Guards which were raised some...
, he read history at Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
.
Near the end of his life, Sainsbury entered into a civil partnership with his partner for 40 years, Stewart Grimshaw, a restaurateur and bookseller. He suffered from Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
in his later years, and ultimately suffered a fall which caused his death.
Business career
Sainsbury trained as a chartered accountantChartered Accountant
Chartered Accountants were the first accountants to form a professional body, initially established in Britain in 1854. The Edinburgh Society of Accountants , the Glasgow Institute of Accountants and Actuaries and the Aberdeen Society of Accountants were each granted a royal charter almost from...
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, responsible for finance. When his brother John became chairman of Sainsbury's in 1969 and Simon was given the deputy chairmanship. In 1973, it was Simon who steered the company through what became the largest ever flotation on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
.
Charitable works
He established The Monument Trust in 1965, which gave grants of more than £100 million over the following 40 years. The Trust supported the Georgian Society. In 1990, he made a donation via The Monument Trust of £5 million to his alma mater
Alma mater
Alma mater , pronounced ), was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, especially Ceres or Cybele, and in Christianity for the Virgin Mary.-General term:...
, Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, which used the money to convert the old Addenbrooke's Hospital
Addenbrooke's Hospital
Addenbrooke's Hospital is an internationally renowned teaching hospital in Cambridge, England, with strong links to the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1766 on Trumpington Street with £4,500 from the will of Dr John Addenbrooke, a fellow of St Catharine's College...
building on Trumpington Street
Trumpington Street
Trumpington Street is a major historic street in central Cambridge, England. At the north end it continues as King's Parade where King's College is located...
in Cambridge into what was to become Judge Business School
Judge Business School
Cambridge Judge Business School, formerly known as the Judge Institute of Management Studies, is the business school of the University of Cambridge. Established in 1990, the School is a provider of management education and is consistently ranked as one of the world's leading business schools. It is...
. 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
Pallant House Gallery
Pallant House Gallery is an art gallery in Chichester, West Sussex, England. It houses one of the best collections of 20th century British art in the world....
in Chichester
Chichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
to house the large art collection of Sir Colin St John Wilson
Colin St John Wilson
Sir Colin Alexander St John Wilson, FRIBA, RA, was a British architect, lecturer and author. He spent over 30 years progressing the project to build a new British Library in London, originally planned to be built in Bloomsbury and now completed near Kings Cross.-Early and private life:Wilson was...
. Simon Sainsbury also personally supported research into HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
and AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
. He and his brothers funded an extension to the National Gallery, London
National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...
at a cost of around £50 million, which opened in 1991 as the Sainsbury Wing. The Trust also supported the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, the Landmark Trust
Landmark Trust
The Landmark Trust is a British building conservation charity, founded in 1965 by Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or architectural merit and then gives them a new life by making them available for holiday rental...
, the Tate Gallery
Tate Gallery
The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...
, the Victoria and Albert Museum
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...
, the Fitzwilliam Museum
Fitzwilliam Museum
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge, located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge, England. It receives around 300,000 visitors annually. Admission is free....
in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, and the renovation of Christ Church Spitalfields
Christ Church Spitalfields
Christ Church, Spitalfields is an Anglican church built between 1714 and 1729 to a design by Nicholas Hawksmoor. Situated on Commercial Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, on the eastern border and facing the City of London, it was one of the first of the so-called "Commissioners'...
. He was a trustee of the Wallace Collection
Wallace Collection
The Wallace Collection is a museum in London, with a world-famous range of fine and decorative arts from the 15th to the 19th centuries with large holdings of French 18th-century paintings, furniture, arms & armour, porcelain and Old Master paintings arranged into 25 galleries.It was established in...
from 1977 to 1997, and a trustee of the National Gallery from 1991 to 1998. He also supported the National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
and the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
. He refused all public honours, and declined an entry in Who's Who
Who's Who (UK)
Who's Who is an annual British publication of biographies which vary in length of about 30,000 living notable Britons.-History:...
.
Upon his death in 2006, Sainsbury bequeathed the cream of his art collection to the National Gallery and the Tate. The combined value of the paintings in the bequest has been estimated at £100 million. In 2008, the National Gallery will receive five works, by the artists Claude Monet
Claude Monet
Claude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
, Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas
Edgar Degas[p] , born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist...
, Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...
, and Henri Rousseau
Henri Rousseau
Henri Julien Félix Rousseau was a French Post-Impressionist painter in the Naïve or Primitive manner. He was also known as Le Douanier , a humorous description of his occupation as a toll collector...
, and the Tate thirteen, including works by Balthus
Balthus
Balthasar Klossowski de Rola , best known as Balthus, was an esteemed but controversial Polish-French modern artist....
and Lucian Freud
Lucian Freud
Lucian Michael Freud, OM, CH was a British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impasted portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time...
which will notably strengthen the Tate's holdings of those artists' works. Sir Nicholas Serota
Nicholas Serota
Sir Nicholas Andrew Serota is a British art curator. Serota was director of the Whitechapel Gallery, London, and The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, before becoming director of the Tate, the United Kingdom's national gallery of modern and British art in 1988. He was awarded a knighthood in 1999. He...
, the director of the latter institution, called the bequest "one of the most important gifts in the history of Tate". The most recent comparable donations of artworks to the galleries are thought to be a gift to the Tate in the 1930s by Frank Stoop, and a bequest of 39 paintings to the National Gallery by Sir Hugh Lane in 1915.