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James Wolfensohn

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Sir James David Wolfensohn KBE, AO (1 December 1933 – 25 November 2020) was an Australian-American lawyer, investment banker, and economist who served as the ninth president of the World Bank Group (1995–2005). During his tenure at the World Bank, he is credited with the focus on poverty alleviation and a rethink on development financing, earning him recognition as a banker to the world's poor. In his other roles, he is credited with actions that brought Chrysler Corporation back from the brink of bankruptcy, and also improving the finances of major United States cultural institutions, including Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center. He served two terms as President of the World Bank on the nomination of U.S. President Bill Clinton, and thereafter held various positions with charitable organizations and policy think-tanks including the Brookings Institution.

Sir
James Wolfensohn
KBE AO
Special Envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East
In office
14 April 2005 – 30 March 2006
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byTony Blair
President of the World Bank Group
In office
June 1, 1995 – May 31, 2005
Preceded byErnest Stern (acting)
Succeeded byPaul Wolfowitz
Personal details
Born
James David Wolfensohn

(1933-12-01)1 December 1933
Sydney, Australia
Died25 November 2020(2020-11-25) (aged 86)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Spouse
Elaine Botwinick
​
​
(m. 1961; died 2020)​
RelationsEdward Botwinick (brother-in-law)
Children3
EducationUniversity of Sydney (BA, LLB)
Harvard University (MBA)
Signature
WebsiteOfficial website

He was born in Sydney, Australia, and was a graduate of the University of Sydney and Harvard Business School; he was also an Olympic fencer. He worked for various companies in Britain and the United States before forming his own investment firm. Wolfensohn became an American citizen in 1980 and renounced his Australian citizenship, although he eventually regained it in 2010.

Early life and education

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Wolfensohn was born on 1 December 1933 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. His father Hyman, known as Bill, was born in London to Austrian-Jewish immigrants, while his mother Dora was born in Belgium to Polish parents.[1][2] His father was a "highly intelligent but failed businessman"[3] who had previously worked for the Rothschild banking family. Wolfensohn's parents arrived in Australia in 1928. He was named after James Armand de Rothschild, his father's former employer, whose birthday he shared.[4] His mother sang with Australian radio and gave him piano lessons, instilling in him a love of the symphony. In high school, he was noted to have taken part in operas, including playing female roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operettas.[5]

Wolfensohn grew up in a two-bedroom flat in Edgecliff. His father struggled financially, and in his autobiography, A Global Life, Wolfensohn described how monetary insecurity was a fact of life from childhood and explained that he was always looking for a cushion to protect himself from it.[4] Wolfensohn attended Woollahra Public School,[4] and then Sydney Boys High School. He entered the University of Sydney at the age of 16, graduating Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Laws (LLB). In 1959 he earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Harvard Business School.[6][7] In his 2010 memoirs he revealed that he failed several university classes, including English, and was a "late developer".[8]

Wolfensohn was a member of the Australian fencing team at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, participating in the Men's Team Épée[9][10] and an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force.[11]

Business career

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Before attending Harvard, Wolfensohn was a lawyer in the Australian law firm of Allen, Allen & Hemsley in Sydney (now Allens). Upon graduating from Harvard Business School, Wolfensohn worked briefly for Swiss cement giant Holderbank (now Holcim).[12] He also worked for an air-conditioner company requiring him to travel across India, Nigeria, Greece, Mexico, Latin America, and other developing countries. He wrote in his memoir about the poverty and inequity, "The inequity was so striking that I could hardly absorb what was in front of me. I had known what to expect intellectually, but, the reality was a shock. It left an indelible mark that would influence my later life."[13]

 
Wolfensohn at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1990

He then returned to Australia, where he worked for various banking institutions, including Darling & Co. In the late 1960s, he became a director of Darling's major shareholder J. Henry Schroder & Co, a London-based investment bank.[4] He was a senior executive in the London office before becoming managing director of the bank's New York City office from 1970 to 1976. He later became a senior executive at Salomon Brothers. In 1979, together with Chrysler Corporation's then chief executive officer Lee Iacocca and then President of the New York Fed Paul A. Volcker, who later became Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Wolfensohn helped orchestrate the rescue of Chrysler from the verge of bankruptcy.[14] In what has been described as the largest corporate bailout at that time, in addition to his banking skills he is noted to have played a role in smoothening a cultural rift between Lee Iacocca and Japanese Bankers, who went on to invest more than $600 million in the company.[5]

In 1980, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States, after it was rumored that he was a candidate to succeed Robert McNamara as president of the World Bank. He renounced his Australian citizenship at this time.[15] He next established his own investment firm, James D. Wolfensohn, Inc., along with partners including Paul Volcker. Upon accepting his nomination to serve as president of the World Bank in 1995, Wolfensohn divested of his ownership interest in James D. Wolfensohn, Inc. The firm was later bought by Bankers Trust.[16] The firm had a diverse client which included Ralph Lauren Corporation and Mercedes-Benz.[5]

During the 1980s and 1990s, he was the chairman of the Carnegie Hall and later of the Kennedy Center. At both of these places, he is credited with stabilizing the cultural organizations' finances and managing their budget shortfalls. At the Kennedy Center he pushed for a shift in programming toward "crowd pleasing" programs including Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera and Cats. Clashes with this approach prompted staff like the artistic director Marta Istomin to quit in 1990.[5]

In 2005, upon stepping down as president of the World Bank, he founded Wolfensohn & Company, LLC, a private firm that works with governments and large corporations doing business in emerging markets.[17] He was also the chairman of the International Advisory Board of Citigroup.[16] In 2009, he became a member of the International Advisory Council of the Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation.[18]

World Bank tenure and other public service

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Wolfensohn (left) with U.S. President George W. Bush in the Oval Office, 2005.
 
Nigerian artist Ibiyinka Alao and James D. Wolfensohn in Washington, D.C. in 2004.
 
Wolfensohn speaking at a press conference with Condoleezza Rice in 2006.

Wolfensohn became the ninth president of the World Bank on 1 July 1995 after he was nominated by U.S. President Bill Clinton. He was unanimously supported by the bank's board of executive directors for a second five-year term in 2000, becoming the third person to serve two terms in the position after Eugene R. Black and Robert McNamara. He visited more than 120 countries around the world during his term as president. Speaking of the People's Republic of China, he said, "China never borrowed less than $3 billion a year during my tenure. They were the most significant client". He believed that the People's Republic of China sought to obtain know-how in addition to money from the Bank, with the People's Republic going from a net borrower to holding over two and a half trillion in foreign exchange reserves.[19]  

Wolfensohn is credited, with among other things, having been the first World Bank president to bring attention to the problem of corruption in the area of development financing.[20] His reforms during his time at the World Bank earned him recognition as a champion of the world's poor. He is credited for reforms at the World Bank, including decentralization, technology investments, and moves towards openness.[15] In June 1996, he wrote a memo that spot audits would occur after he established an in-house auditing staff at the World Bank.[21] His time at the Bank was also a period of shift from complex infrastructure projects in developing economies to social-sector led programs.[15] During this time, the World Bank became one of the largest funders of global primary education and health programs including HIV/AIDS programs.[15] He also advanced debt release programs for many Africa and Latin American nations.[22]

He brought attention to contemporary Africa when he hosted the award-winning visual artist Ibiyinka Alao during the show "Visions and Vignettes" presented by the World Bank Art Program.[23][24]

On 3 January 2005, Wolfensohn announced he would not seek a third term as president. During his term, the Alfalfa Club named him as their nominee for President of the United States in 2000 as part of a long-standing tradition, despite being constitutionally ineligible due to the natural-born citizen clause in Article II of the United States Constitution.[25] He served as an advisor to the Grassroots Business Fund.[26]

Mideast envoy

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In April 2005, Wolfensohn was appointed special envoy for Gaza disengagement by the Quartet on the Middle East, a group of major powers and the United Nations promoting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.[27] He resigned after 11 months as special envoy when he understood the United States government to be undermining his efforts and firing his staff.[28]

According to him the major blame for the failure of his Middle East mission lay with him. "I feel that if anything, I was stupid for not reading the small print," he admitted. "I was never given the mandate to negotiate the peace."[29] Former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, would succeed him in this role.[30]

Civic and charitable activities

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In 2006, Wolfensohn founded the Wolfensohn Center for Development at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank.[31] The centre examined how to implement, scale up, and sustain development interventions to solve key development challenges at a national, regional, and global level and strove to bridge the gap between development theorists and practitioners. Its projects focused on youth exclusion in the Middle East, large-scale anti-poverty programs, reforms of global economic governance, and regional cooperation, particularly in Central Asia. The Center concluded work after five years.[32]

Wolfensohn was a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation, and also served as an honorary trustee of the Brookings Institution. He was a trustee and past chairman of the board of trustees of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. He was chairman emeritus of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., and also of the Carnegie Hall in New York City. He was a member of the non-profit think tank the Council on Foreign Relations. In July 2008, Wolfensohn was selected as one of the inaugural fellows of the Australian Institute of International Affairs. He served on the board of various charitable foundations, including the Wolfensohn Family Foundation.[33][34][35][17]

Between 1985 and 2015 Wolfensohn attended 27 conferences of the Bilderberg Group, which rendered him one of the most frequent participants of the organization during this time period. He also attended meetings of the Aspen Institute and the World Economic Forum. He was a one time a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group.[36] In 2004, Wolfensohn was the commencement speaker at Brandeis University.[37] Wolfensohn sat on the board of Endeavor (non-profit).[34] He was a member of the Honorary Board of the International Paralympic Committee.[38]

Personal life

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Wolfensohn married Elaine Botwinick, sister of IT entrepreneur Edward Botwinick,[39] in 1961.[40] They had three children and seven grandchildren.[41] Botwinick died in August 2020,[40] three months before Wolfensohn's death.[5]

In New York City, he once found himself at a Jerusalem Foundation lunch next to Dorothy de Rothschild, widow of James. She could not tell him why his father suddenly had left Rothschild six decades earlier. But he was reassured that his father had been a "wonderful man".[42]

Wolfensohn began cello studies with Jacqueline du Pré, a friend, at the age of 41 when she offered to teach him on the condition that he perform on his 50th birthday at Carnegie Hall in New York City, which he did. He repeated the exercise on his 60th and 70th birthdays with Yo-Yo Ma and Bono. He continued to play and appeared, together with musician friends, at private events at Carnegie Hall and elsewhere.[4]

In October 2010, he regained his Australian citizenship, that he had renounced earlier.[43] Wolfensohn was a resident of Jackson Hole, Wyoming.[44]

Wolfensohn died on 25 November 2020 in Manhattan of complications from pneumonia, aged 86, six days short of his 87th birthday.[5]

Honours

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Wolfensohn in 2000

Wolfensohn received numerous awards throughout his life. He became an honorary officer of the Order of Australia in 1987,[45] received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1993,[46] and an honorary knighthood of the Order of the British Empire in 1995 for his service to the arts.[5] The University of New South Wales conferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Science on him in 2006, and he received the Award of Excellence from The International Center in New York.[17][47][48]

In 2006, Wolfensohn received the Leo Baeck Medal for his humanitarian work promoting tolerance and social justice.[49] In 2011, he was awarded the Golden Biatec Award, the highest award bestowed by Slovakia's Informal Economic Forum – Economic Club, for his contribution to addressing global priorities.[50] At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Wolfensohn was inducted into the Olympians for Life project.[51]

He was a member of both the American Academy of Arts & Sciences[52] and the American Philosophical Society.[53]

Bibliography

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  • James D. Wolfensohn: "Social Development", in: Frank-Jürgen Richter, Pamela Mar: Asia's New Crisis, John Wiley 2004; ISBN 0-470-82129-9
  • Sebastian Mallaby (2004) The World's Banker: A Story of Failed States, Financial Crises, and the Wealth and Poverty of Nations. Critical biography by former Economist writer and Washington Post contributor, emphasis on World Bank; ISBN 1-59420-023-8.
  • James D. Wolfensohn and Andrew Kircher (2005) Voice for the World's Poor: Selected Speeches and Writings of World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn, 1995–2005; ISBN 978-0-8213-6156-6. Collection of speeches, articles, memoranda and op-eds.
  • James D. Wolfensohn (2010). A Global Life: My Journey among Rich and Poor, from Wall Street to the World Bank, p. 96. Pan MacMillan; ISBN 978-1-58648-255-8

References

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  1. ^ "The people's plutocrat". The Guardian. 13 June 1999. Archived from the original on 7 May 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  2. ^ James Lagan (9 October 2010). "James Wolfensohn: banker to the world". Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  3. ^ "Elvis of economics takes a bow". The Observer. 20 March 2005. Archived from the original on 18 September 2014. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e Stutchbury, Michael (30 October 2010), "The man who inherited the Rothschild legend", The Australian, Australia, p. 11, archived from the original on 4 November 2010, retrieved 30 October 2010
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Schneider, Howard (25 November 2020). "James D. Wolfensohn, who led World Bank through tumultuous decade, dies at 86". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Story Details – Alumni – Harvard Business School". www.alumni.hbs.edu. January 2008. Archived from the original on 12 July 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  7. ^ "James David Wolfensohn". World Bank. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  8. ^ Wolfensohn, James D. (12 October 2010). A Global Life: My Journey Among Rich and Poor, from Sydney to Wall Street to the World Bank. PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-993-9. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  9. ^ "James Wolfensohn Olympic Results". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
  10. ^ "James Wolfensohn". Olympedia. Archived from the original on 5 July 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  11. ^ World Bank biography; retrieved 7 May 2008
  12. ^ James D. Wolfensohn (2010). A Global Life: My Journey among Rich and Poor, from Wall Street to the World Bank, p. 96. Pan MacMillan; ISBN 978-1-58648-255-8
  13. ^ Wolfensohn, James D. (12 October 2010). A Global Life: My Journey Among Rich and Poor, from Sydney to Wall Street to the World Bank. PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1-58648-993-9. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  14. ^ Joseph B. Treaster (2004). "Paul Volcker: The Making of a Financial Legend." Chapter 10: Fly-Fishing. John Wiley & Sons; ISBN 0-471-42812-4.
  15. ^ a b c d Romo, Vanessa (25 November 2020). "James Wolfensohn, Former World Bank Chief And Champion Of The Poor, Dies At 86". NPR.org. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  16. ^ a b Profile Archived 22 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine, citigroup.com; accessed 1 April 2014.
  17. ^ a b c "Former World Bank President James Wolfensohn Joins Board of Carnegie Corporation of New York". Carnegie Corporation of New York. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  18. ^ China Investment Corporation website Archived 23 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine; accessed 1 April 2014.
  19. ^ Bosco, David (5 October 2010). "An interview with James Wolfensohn". Foreign Policy. Archived from the original on 28 March 2016. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  20. ^ James D. Wolfensohn, Annual Meeting Address, 1 October 1996, World Bank website Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 4 July 2014.
  21. ^ Celarier, Michelle (1 September 1996). "Corruption: The search for the smoking gun. Watch out! A hit squad of World Bank auditors could be making a surprise visit to a project near you. This is the Bank's first serious attempt, led by president James Wolfensohn, to address corruption head on. But nailing the culprits, some of them dictators and governments, is not so easy". Euromoney. Archived from the original on 16 April 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  22. ^ Hershey, Robert D. Jr. (26 November 2020). "James D. Wolfensohn, Who Led the World Bank for 10 Years, Dies at 86". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  23. ^ "Ibiyinka Olufemi Alao". Ashinaga. 19 August 2019. Archived from the original on 30 September 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  24. ^ Choi, Jieun; Dutz, Mark A.; Usman, Zainab (26 June 2020). The Future of Work in Africa: Harnessing the Potential of Digital Technologies for All. World Bank Publications. ISBN 978-1-4648-1445-7. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  25. ^ NNDb profile Archived 15 June 2006 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 21 May 2006.
  26. ^ Grassroots Business Fund: Governing Board and Advisors Archived 10 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 1 April 2014.
  27. ^ "Remarks on the Appointment of James Wolfensohn as Special Envoy for Gaza Disengagement". U.S. Department of State. 14 April 2005. Archived from the original on 23 August 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  28. ^ "All the Dreams We Had Are Now Gone". Haaretz. 19 July 2007. Archived from the original on 30 October 2016. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
  29. ^ Ellison, Sarah. "Profile: Tony Blair Defends the Choices He's Made". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  30. ^ Post, Jim HoaglandThe Washington (7 September 2007). "New Blair Project". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  31. ^ "Gift to Help Create Center on Poverty" Archived 26 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine, nytimes.com; 16 May 2005; retrieved 16 March 2007.
  32. ^ Wolfensohn Center for Development Archived 21 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Brookings Institution website; retrieved 26 May 2012.
  33. ^ ProPublica, Mike Tigas, Sisi Wei, Ken Schwencke, Brandon Roberts, Alec Glassford (9 May 2013). "Wolfensohn Family Foundation, Full Filing – Nonprofit Explorer". ProPublica. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  34. ^ a b "James Wolfensohn (emeritus)". Endeavor. Archived from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  35. ^ "Fellows of the AIIA". Australian Institute of International Affairs. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  36. ^ "Former Steering Committee Members". bilderbergmeetings.org. Bilderberg Group. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  37. ^ "Keynote Speaker | Brandeis University". Archived from the original on 18 June 2007. Retrieved 17 January 2008.
  38. ^ "Honorary Board". IPC. Archived from the original on 28 March 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
  39. ^ School, Columbia Business (12 June 2017). "About Benjamin Botwinick '26". The Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Center for Leadership and Ethics. Retrieved 29 June 2022. {{cite web}}: |first= has generic name (help)
  40. ^ a b "ELAINE WOLFENSOHN Obituary (2020) – New York Times". www.legacy.com. Archived from the original on 17 November 2020. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  41. ^ "James David Wolfensohn". World Bank. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020. Retrieved 25 November 2020.
  42. ^ "The man who inherited the Rothschild legend". Archived from the original on 25 August 2017. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  43. ^ "James Wolfensohn: banker to the world". The Sydney Morning Herald. 8 October 2010. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  44. ^ "Jackson Hole Hideaway". Forbes. Archived from the original on 25 June 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  45. ^ WOLFENSOHN, James David profile Archived 22 February 2019 at the Wayback Machine, itsanhonour.gov.au; retrieved 11 February 2008.
  46. ^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement. Archived from the original on 15 December 2016. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  47. ^ "Honorary Degree and Fellowship holders – UNSW Sydney". www.unsw.edu.au. Archived from the original on 9 August 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  48. ^ "Sir James Wolfensohn, Visionary Advocate, to Receive IAS Bamberger Medal – Press Release | Institute for Advanced Study". www.ias.edu. 10 September 2019. Archived from the original on 29 May 2020. Retrieved 26 November 2020.
  49. ^ "Vale Jim Wolfensohn".
  50. ^ Golden Biatec Award awarded to Wolfensohn Archived 21 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine, hospodarskyklub.sk; accessed 1 April 2014.
  51. ^ "Olympians for Life Project proves popular at Olympians Reunion Centre by EY". olympians.org. Archived from the original on 30 October 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
  52. ^ "American Academy of Arts & Sciences" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  53. ^ "American Philosophical Society". Archived from the original on 5 March 2017.
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Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
Ernest Stern (acting)
 President of the World Bank Group
1995–2005 		Succeeded by
New office Special Envoy of the Quartet
2005–2006 		Vacant
Title next held by
Tony Blair
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