Gerald Ronson is a proud man. He is proud of his property achievements through his company, Heron International. He is proud of his philanthropic work, and of the Gerald Ronson Foundation. And he is proud of his family, which includes his wife Dame Gail Ronson and four daughters, Lisa, Amanda, Nicole and Hayley.
With this pride Ronson is not afraid to speak of all he has achieved in life, as readers of his 2009 autobiography, Leading from the Front, discovered. But Ronson does not come across as boastful, rather as a straight talker who is not afraid to discuss his beliefs.
Having gone through a lot in his 74 years – from owning the UK’s second-largest private company, to near bankruptcy, to prison time as a result of the Guinness share scandal of the 1980s, to rebuilding his business – his passion for charity never waned, even through the tough times of various recessions.
Today, more than ever, he is keen to help people, both in the UK and Israel (Ronson is described as “the most influential secular Jew in the UK” in his book). And he sees the education of young people as an important part of his charity work. “I am not interested in… investing money in over-educating children. What I am interested in is giving people a step on the ladder,” he says.
Having built and funded schools here and in Israel, Ronson describes the opening in 2010 of the Jewish Community Secondary School in East Barnet, Hertfordshire, as one of his biggest achievements.
“The government put up £40m and we were able to negotiate the site – it’s a magnificent piece of land – with Barnet council. We had to raise a further £10m, and I was responsible for leading that fundraising, plus the Gerald Ronson Foundation put in a seven-figure sum.”
JCoSS will have 1,350 children of different faiths by 2017, when it reaches its full quota. Ronson, who is the school’s president, says: “The school has been a great project, very successful, and I am
very proud.”
It was his Jewish faith, where children are taught to understand tzedakah – the religious obligation to do what is right and just – plus his own success that spurred Ronson into charity work, leading to the establishment in 1967 of the Ronson Foundation, now the Gerald Ronson Foundation. Each week, the foundation receives hundreds of applications for funding.
“I must have raised, to date, £150m, and I have given away tens of millions. Now, I am blessed that I am in a position that I can do it: that’s a gift… from the good Lord, because I believe you have a talent, you make money, but what’s important is what you do with it. And you don’t do your children any favours by leaving them tens and tens of millions of pounds.”
Ronson admits fundraising became more difficult during the recent recession, with donations dropping by between 15% and 20%. But, just as the economy has started to pick up again, so has charitable giving.
However, Ronson says: “The problem is that people don’t seem to have the same sense of responsibility. There are some very generous people… in business, and I do want to make that quite clear. I don’t want them to feel that I am castigating them. But a lot of very young, successful people do not take their responsibility as they should in terms of supporting causes.
“I am a major fundraiser, and so is my wife, and I find it’s the same people [who donate]. It’s older people, predominantly. The thing with older people, which is becoming a problem, is they also are having to help their children with their grandchildren’s education, which all costs a lot of money, because people aren’t earning the money they were and taxation is high.
“It is getting tougher to raise money for worthy causes, whatever they may be.”
Through the Gerald Ronson Foundation, Ronson is determined to keep on raising money, no matter how tough it gets, and the foundation is set to thrive for many decades through his children. “I have four very down-to-earth daughters and nine grandchildren. All my daughters sit on the foundation. Hopefully, my grandchildren, when they’re over 21, can also sit on the foundation.
“One of the best things I can leave my children is a major foundation for them to follow what their mother and father laid down.”
Charity as a family trait: the next generation
Talking to Lisa Ronson and Nicole Ronson Allalouf, two of Gerald and Dame Gail Ronson’s daughters (the others are Hayley and Amanda), it is clear that their parents’ charity work had a huge influence on their upbringing.
“Charity has always been part of our lives,” says Lisa. “Our parents were involved in numerous charities and we would be part of their meetings.”
Nicole adds: “From a young age they taught us to stand up and be counted. They taught us that you can be fortunate, but you can give back. It is also part of our culture. We have been doing charitable endeavours since we were 12 and 13 years old, from singing in old people’s homes to organising parties for kids.”
Today each of the Ronson daughters are involved in various charities, both with the foundation and outside of it.
“As you get older you find your own interests. We have all found different areas of charity work that suit us – we have got involved individually and we work together,” says Lisa, a Gerald Ronson Foundation trustee who works with the Natural History Museum, TrainE-TraidE, and as a trustee of CST.
Nicole is involved with Great Ormond Street Hospital, Young Epilepsy and the Holocaust Centre, while also running and being a trustee of the Gerald Ronson Foundation. “Our parents have laid down certain guidelines on how they would like the foundation to grow and the plan is to grow in the categories on which we focus: community and welfare, medical, disability, education, arts and Israel.”
She adds: “My father hopes his grandchildren will continue the foundation’s work. It is a legacy he has left for his children, his grandchildren and hopefully his grandchildren’s children.”
Noella.Pio.Kivlehan@estatesgazette.com
