Simon Sainsbury; philanthropist
Hyfler/Rosner
Self-effacing Sainsbury brother who took his family firm
public and was a discreet but busy philanthropist
The Independent
04 October 2006
Robert Butler
Simon Sainsbury was part of a remarkable fourth generation
that transformed a medium-sized family business, based in
the South-East of England, into a public company that became
the most profitable retailer in Britain. The personal wealth
that resulted from the rapid expansion of Sainsbury's in the
1980s and early 1990s enabled him to become one of the
country's most generous and thoughtful philanthropists.
The scale of the Sainsbury family's philanthropy became well
known in 1987 when Simon, and his brothers John and Tim,
donated the Sainsbury Wing to the National Gallery. Equally
significant, if far less well known, were the many charities
that Simon Sainsbury supported over 40 years, ranging from
the preservation of historic buildings to the improvement of
conditions within prisons and the funding of services for
those diagnosed with HIV/Aids.
His business career and his philanthropy were marked by a
thoroughness of approach and a determination to ensure that
whatever plan had been decided upon would be successfully
achieved. For the institutions and causes with which he was
associated, and which were the recipients of (literally)
millions of pounds a year, he did a great deal more than
sign the cheque.
He was born in 1930, the middle son of Doreen and Alan
Sainsbury (later the Labour peer Lord Sainsbury), and he
grew up in Chelsea, before moving during the Second World
War to Dorney, near Windsor. He went to Eton, where he was a
gifted sportsman and pianist, and became President of the
Eton Society, or "Pop". Unlike many others who have held
that post, he was naturally self-effacing. One rare moment
in his life when he stole the headlines was the Eton-Harrow
match at Lord's in 1947, which was attended by the King and
Queen, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret, and the future
Prince Philip.
An opening bowler, Sainsbury was sent in to bat as a
"nightwatchman" to stem the fall of Eton's wickets. By the
end of the first day's play he was 0 not out. When play
resumed the next day he scored a century, exactly, and then
was stumped. "Sainsbury's bat rarely departed from the
perpendicular," one paper wrote, "but was most effective
when it did."
He served his National Service with the Life Guards, where
he was "sports officer", and went to Trinity College,
Cambridge, where he read History. After training as a
chartered accountant, he joined the family business in 1956,
working in the finance department. He became a director in
1959. The three brothers had distinct areas of expertise:
John (now Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover) was in charge
of trading, Simon was in charge of finance, administration
and personnel, and Tim (later a Conservative minister, now
Sir Timothy) was in charge of development.
Sainsbury's father Alan and his uncle Robert retired as
chairmen in 1967 and 1969, respectively. It was a hundred
years after their great-grandparents had opened the first J.
Sainsbury dairy shop in Drury Lane. Sainsbury's elder
brother, John, became chairman and Simon became deputy
chairman.
Business analysts at the time commented on how improbable it
was that the fourth generation of a family business should
produce four directors of such calibre and commitment (the
three brothers and their cousin David, now the Science
minister Lord Sainsbury of Turville). "Even though it was a
tremendously healthy business when we took over," Simon
Sainsbury later said, "we were all fired by the ambition to
run it better than it had ever been run before." They
succeeded. By the time his elder brother retired as chairman
in 1992, the company had a turnover of Ł9.2bn.
Simon Sainsbury's most significant role in these years was
handling the transition from a private company to a publicly
listed one. His job was to add the letters "plc" to "J.
Sainsbury". In terms of capitalisation it was the biggest
flotation ever mounted by the London Stock Exchange. A
million shares were set aside for staff, which led to many
staff members' buying shares that shot up in value. The
company went public on 12 July 1973. Within one minute the
list of applications was closed: Ł495m had been offered for
Ł14.5m available shares. The feverish press that surrounded
the flotation ("Sale of the Century", said the Daily
Express) greatly enhanced the company's new dynamic image.
In 1965, Sainsbury set up the Monument Trust and his
approach to grant-making was businesslike, proactive and
(when possible) discreet to the point of anonymity. He
maintained a daily interest in the trust's affairs and took
a clear-headed view of charities, their financial plans, the
strength of their personnel, and their long-term strategies.
The Monument Trust took a lead in many areas: for instance,
providing essential funding for the development of services
for those diagnosed with HIV/Aids before statutory funding
became available. (The trust's level of support for this
remains high.) Immediately after the 1991 riots in Meadow
Well, North Tyneside, the trust's administrator was
dispatched to find out what was happening. Fifteen years
later, the trust's involvement in that area is only now
drawing to a close.
Two areas left him frustrated. One was the many obstacles
facing projects that attempted to make the lives of
prisoners more hopeful and productive. The other was the
huge growth in regulations governing the ways that a
charitable trust could give money. He believed the process
of giving money should be a simple one. One of his last
substantial donations was to the Fitzwilliam Museum in
Cambridge.
He supported many institutions from the British Museum,
Royal Academy, Tate Modern and V&A to the Council for the
Protection of (now Campaign to Protect) Rural England, the
Landmark Trust and Christ Church, Spitalfields, with which
he was closely involved. His donation to the new Cambridge
Judge Business School was decisive in securing its future.
The theatre director Richard Eyre provides a glimpse in his
published diaries, National Service (2003), of Sainsbury's
considerate, low-key style. Eyre describes Sainsbury coming
to see him at the National Theatre in 1996 to discuss the
theatre's plans for redevelopment. "I told him why we were
doing what we were doing, he asked a few questions, then
said he would talk to his trust and would leave me alone
because he was sure." Eyre adds, "If only all rich people
were as charming and generous."
For 40 years Sainsbury shared his life with Stewart
Grimshaw, a successful restaurateur and, later, bookseller.
Together they leased a Georgian house from the National
Trust, restored it to its full glory and created a beautiful
garden in its surroundings.
Sainsbury possessed an exceptional eye for art and design, a
quality he shared with his uncle Robert, who had endowed the
Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts, in East Anglia. His
principal interests lay in English furniture, early English
pottery and late-19th-century and early-20th-century
paintings. He was a trustee of the National Gallery
(1991-98) and Chairman of the Wallace Collection (1992-97),
where he set in place the biggest programme of changes since
the museum had opened in 1900. He also returned to
Sainsbury's to chair the arts sponsorship panel, whose
activities included the popular Sainsbury's Choir of the
Year competition.
Urbane and often funny, Sainsbury was also very private. He
accepted no honours or high-profile jobs, though there were
rumours that he had been offered both. Characteristically,
he had no listing in Who's Who. Earlier this year he
celebrated his civil partnership with Grimshaw in a ceremony
which, considering the enormous shift in the law during the
time they had known one another, was powerful and affecting.
(Both had campaigned over the years for changes in the law
that disadvantaged same-sex couples.)
His seventies were clouded by the onset of Parkinson's, but
it never diminished the depth of his interest in friends,
family and good causes.
Robert Butler
Simon Sainsbury liked order, writes Neil MacGregor. He
disciplined himself meticulously. He imposed immaculate -
and immaculately beautiful - order on his surroundings at
home. He inspired order in those who worked with him, and he
smilingly despaired of the lack of it in his friends.
While the Sainsbury Wing was being built at the National
Gallery - the largest private addition to a museum in
Britain since the Second World War - the three donor
brothers, John, Simon and Tim, all played key roles in
overseeing its construction. But it was Simon who took on
the most detailed and time-consuming task, working closely
with the gallery and with the architects to ensure that the
gallery got the building it needed - which, as he could
clearly see, might not be the building we had thought we
wanted.
The meetings this required - sometimes two or three a week
over nearly four years - were master-classes in running a
project, in the complex process of turning an aspiration
into a reality. The gallery quickly realised this was a
benefactor unlike any other. The architects acknowledged
this was what a patron ought to be. It was typical of the
man: once he decided to do something, his commitment of time
and energy was unstinting. Who else would have organised a
party for the Portuguese stone-masons and the carpark
attendants?
The Sainsbury Wing was only a small part of what he did.
Many museums and galleries across Britain owe a great debt -
in some cases their very existence - to Simon Sainsbury. Yet
in every case his role was as reticent as it was generous.
Often it was anonymous.
He was such an intensely private man that it seems almost
disloyal to talk about his personal qualities. And his
virtues were indeed private ones: loyalty, persistence,
understatement (occasionally barbed with acerbic humour),
self-effacement (especially in his giving), discernment of
quality in people as in things. He would, I feel sure, have
hated to read this tribute.
Simon David Davan Sainsbury, businessman and philanthropist:
born London 1 March 1930; director, J. Sainsbury 1959-79,
deputy chairman 1969-79; Trustee, Wallace Collection
1977-97, Chairman 1992-97; Trustee, National Gallery
1991-98; registered civil partnership 2006 with Stewart
Grimshaw; died Southampton 27 September 2006.