ANTHONY EDWARD RUPERT Biography - Bussiness people and enterpreneurs

 
 

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ANTHONY EDWARD RUPERT

Anthony Edward Rupert Main                                                         
South African industrialist and philanthropist (b. Oct. 4, 1916, Graaff-Reinet,     
Cape province, [now Eastern Cape province] S.Af.—d. Jan. 18, 2006, Stellenbosch,   
Western Cape province, S.Af.), built a small tobacco company into a huge             
multinational conglomerate that encompassed hundreds of businesses in more than     
30 countries. In the 1940s Rupert formed a cigarette company named Voorbrand,       
and during the following few years he expanded into the South African wine           
industry. In 1948 he renamed the company Rembrandt, which became the core of a       
financial empire that included such luxury brands as Piaget, Cartier, and           
Montblanc. Rupert also was a founding member of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF),       
and in 1997 he became a founding patron of the Peace Parks Foundation, which was     
created to establish cross-border conservation parks in southern Africa.