Robert Maxwell

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For other people named Robert Maxwell, see Robert Maxwell (disambiguation).

Robert Maxwell

 

MC

Robert Maxwell 1989.jpg

Maxwell at the Global Economic Panel in Amsterdam (1989)

Member of Parliament

for Buckingham

In office

15 October 1964 – 18 June 1970

Preceded by Frank Markham

Succeeded by William Benyon

Personal details

Born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch

 

10 June 1923

Slatinské Doly, Czechoslovakia (now Solotvyno, Ukraine)

Died 5 November 1991 (aged 68)

Sea around Canary Islands

Resting place Mount of Olives Jewish Cemetery, Jerusalem

Citizenship Czechoslovak

British (since 1946)

Political party Labour

Spouse(s) Elisabeth Meynard (m. 1946)

Children 9, including Christine, Isabel, Ian, Kevin and Ghislaine

Occupation Publisher, media proprietor

Military service

Allegiance Czechoslovakia

United Kingdom

Branch/service Czechoslovak Army (in-exile)

British Army

Years of service 1940–1945

Rank Captain

Battles/wars World War II

Awards Military Cross

 

Ian Robert Maxwell MC (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991), was a British media proprietor, Member of Parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster.[2] Originally from Czechoslovakia, Maxwell rose from poverty to build an extensive publishing empire. After his death, huge discrepancies in his companies' finances were revealed, including his fraudulent misappropriation of the Mirror Group pension fund.[3]

 

Early in his life, Maxwell, an Orthodox Jew, escaped from Nazi occupation, joined the Czechoslovak Army in exile in World War II and was decorated after active service in the British Army. In subsequent years he worked in publishing, building up Pergamon Press to a major publishing house. After six years as an MP during the 1960s, Maxwell again put all his energy into business, successively buying the British Printing Corporation, Mirror Group Newspapers and Macmillan Publishers, among other publishing companies.

 

Maxwell had a flamboyant lifestyle, living in Headington Hill Hall in Oxford, from which he often flew in his helicopter, and sailed in his luxury yacht, the Lady Ghislaine. He was litigious and often embroiled in controversy, including with regard to his support for Israel at the time of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. In 1989, Maxwell had to sell successful businesses, including Pergamon Press, to cover some of his debts. In 1991, his body was discovered floating in the Atlantic Ocean, having fallen overboard from his yacht. He was buried in Jerusalem.

 

Maxwell's death triggered the collapse of his publishing empire as banks called in loans. His sons briefly attempted to keep the business together, but failed as the news emerged that the elder Maxwell had stolen hundreds of millions of pounds from his own companies' pension funds. The Maxwell companies applied for bankruptcy protection in 1992.

Contents

 

1 Early life

2 Pergamon lost and regained

3 Later business activities

4 Israeli connection

4.1 1948 war

4.2 Mossad allegations; Vanunu case

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Maxwell