Israel Moses Sieff
Israel Moses Sieff, Baron Sieff (4 May 1889 – 14 February 1972) was an English businessman and Zionist who was chairman of the British retailer Marks & Spencer from 1964 to 1967.[1][2]
Early life and education
He was born in Manchester, the son of Ephraim Sieff and Sarah Saffer.[1] His father, an immigrant from Lithuania, founded a prosperous textile business in Manchester. He was educated at Manchester Grammar School alongside Simon Marks, son of Marks & Spencer co-founder Michael Marks. For 63 years, he and Marks shared a close friendship that was cemented when each married the other's sister. He earned a degree in commerce at the University of Manchester.[2]
Sieff joined Simon Marks in Marks & Spencer in 1915 while also maintaining an interest in the Sieff family business. In 1926, when Marks & Spencer became a public company, Sieff joined Simon Marks full-time as vice-chairman and joint managing director. In the early 1930s, Sieff went to the United States and spent several weeks in the merchandise development of Sears to gain practical knowledge to improve the company.[2]
When Simon Marks died in December 1964, Sieff became the chairman and joint managing director of the company. On 18 January 1966, he was created a life peer as Baron Sieff, of Brimpton in the Royal County of Berkshire.[3]
Following Lord Sieff's death, The Times recalled Sieff's approach to business:
- It was a remarkable combination of two very different minds and personalities which produced the amazing success of Marks and Spencer. The immense practical genius of Lord Marks balanced the percipient, sensitive fascination with any piece of pioneering which was characteristic of Sieff. He was from the beginning deeply interested in all the social and economic implications of commerce on the scale with which he now found himself involved, and introduced many novelties in the relations of the firm with their customers, their employees, and their suppliers.[2]
In 1918, Sieff was a member of the Zionist Commission which visited Palestine under the leadership of Chaim Weizmann.
Sieff was president of the Political and Economic Planning think-tank from its foundation in 1931 and its chairman until 1939.
Zionism
- He and his brothers-in-law, Simon Marks and Harry Sacher, were closely associated in their devotion to Zionism, as well as in their commercial career. Sieff's wife, Rebecca Sieff, was among the founders of wizo and continued her active participation in that organization. It was in 1913 that Sieff, along with Marks, came to know Chaim Weizmann, who was at that time a lecturer in Manchester University. From then on until Weizmann's death, the three brothers-in-law were among his closest friends and collaborators, notably in the critical labors which led up to the issue of the *Balfour Declaration. Under their leadership Manchester became arguably the major center of British Zionism. Sieff was one of the founders of and a regular contributor to the fortnightly review Palestine, which played its part in educating public opinion in England in favor of Zionism... His Zionist and Jewish activities were marked by his honorary presidency of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland and of that body's Educational Trust, his chairmanship and vice presidency of the Joint Palestine Appeal, and his chairmanship of Carmel College.[4]
Affiliations
- H. Grand Commander Order of Ancient Maccabeans, 1947.[5]
Marriage and family
In 1910, he married Rebecca Marks. His wife was the President of WIZO for most of her life. They had three sons and a daughter:[1]
- Hon. Michael David Sieff (1911–1987)
- Marcus Sieff, Baron Sieff of Brimpton (1913–2001)
- Daniel Sieff (1915–1932)
- Judith Hannah Sieff (1921–1999)
The death of their son Daniel, who intended to be a scientist, at age 17 led Sieff — and with the financial support of his business partners and relatives by marriage, the Marks and Sacher families — to endow the 1934 creation, by Chaim Weizmann, of the Daniel Sieff Research Institute in Rehovot in occupied Palestine. Renamed the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1949 with the Sieff family's consent.[2]
Sieff was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium and his ashes were placed next to those of Simon Marks.
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Burke's Peerage|Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood. Burke's Peerage & Gentry Mosley, Charles Vol. 107, 2003 |
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Obituary: Lord Sieff – Joint architect of Marks and Spencer empire, The Times 15 February 1972, page 14
- ↑ London Gazette |issue=43877 |date=18 January 1966 |page=666
- ↑ https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/sieff-israel-moses-baron
- ↑ Jewish Year Book, 1947.