Benjamin Edmond Maurice de Rothschild

Benjamin de Rothschild, an heir to the Edmond de Rothschild banking legacy, died at age 57 after suffering a heart attack. Forbes estimates that Benjamin de Rothschild was worth $1.4 billion at the time of his death, Baron Benjamin de Rothschild is a descendant of the French Rothschild banking family. He's the chairman and majority owner of its Edmond de Rothschild global finance empire, which boasts $178 billion in assets under management. His net worth is down in 2015 due to new information that led Forbes to lower our estimate of Benjamin de Rothschild's stake in the Edmond de Rothschild global holding company to 66%. In 2014 the group named the billionaire's wife, Ariane de Rothschild, CEO of the Edmond de Rothschild Group. Through Edmond de Rothschild and its affiliates, the baron owns or co-owns vineyards in Argentina, New Zealand, South Africa and France. Among his other assets are hotels in Megeve, France, a ski-town playground of the rich, and a farm that makes cheese, butter and paté outside of Paris. A keen sailor, his Gitana team competes worldwide. Benjamin de Rothschild was a descendent of James de Rothschild, the founder of the French branch of the Rothschild family and one of five brothers who were despatched across Europe by founding father Mayer Amschel Mayer Amschel in the early 1800s.