Vivien Duffield

Dame Vivien Louise Duffield, DBE (née Clore; born 26 March 1946[1]) is an English philanthropist.

Dame

Vivien Duffield

DBE
Born
Vivien Louise Clore

(1946-03-26) 26 March 1946
EducationLycée Français
Heathfield St Mary's School
Alma materLady Margaret Hall, Oxford
OccupationPhilanthropist
Spouse(s)John Duffield
Children2, including George Duffield
Parent(s)Charles Clore
Francine Halphen
RelativesNatasha Wightman (daughter-in-law)

Life and career

Vivien Louise Clore was born to Jewish parents. Her father was millionaire businessman and philanthropist Sir Charles Clore and her mother was Francine Halphen, a heroine of the French resistance.[2][3]

She was educated at the Lycée Français, Heathfield School and Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford University where she read modern languages.[4] She has a brother, Alan Evelyn Clore. Her marriage to British financier John Duffield produced two children, Arabella and George.[5] The marriage ended in divorce in 1976.[2] From 1973 until 2005, she was in a relationship with Sir Jocelyn Stevens, who was managing director of Express Newspapers and Chairman of English Heritage.[1]

Philanthropy

After her father's death in 1979, Duffield assumed the Chairmanship of the Clore Foundations in the UK and in Israel. In the UK she also established her own Vivien Duffield Foundation in 1987, and the two foundations merged in 2000 to become the Clore Duffield Foundation.

In addition to the Chairmanship of her Foundation, Dame Vivien was a member of the Board of the Royal Opera House from 1990 to 2001 and is currently Chairman of the Royal Opera House Endowment Fund.

She founded Eureka! The National Children's Museum in Halifax, West Yorkshire in 1992, and is the life president.

She is a Director of the Southbank Centre board and a Governor of the Royal Ballet. From 2007 to 2010 she was Chair of The Campaign for Oxford, Oxford University. She is the founder of JW3, London's new Jewish Community Centre, which opened on the Finchley Road in October 2013.[6] She is Chairman of the Clore Foundation in Israel.

A 2005 London Evening Standard article estimated that she and the Foundations she controls had donated in excess of £176 million. In March 2011, amid heavy Government cuts on the arts, she donated £8.2 million for educational purposes to 11 arts institutions.[1] Following her departure from the board of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Duffield subsequently donated £1M to the re-development of the London Coliseum.[7]

Honours

Dame Vivien Duffield's charitable work has been formally acknowledged by many institutions, both in the UK and in Israel. She was appointed a CBE in 1989, promoted to DBE in 2000 and in 2008 The Prince of Wales presented Dame Vivien with one of the first Medals for Arts Philanthropy. The Medal celebrates individuals who support the arts and recognises the contribution of the most inspiring philanthropists in the UK. In 2006, she was awarded the Beacon Fellowship Prize. In February 2013 she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the UK by Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4. In 2017 she was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art.[8]

References
  1. Andrew Anthony (26 March 2011). "Vivien Duffield: The woman who thinks it's better to give". The Observer. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  2. Tim Adams (28 May 2000). "No sweet Charity". The Observer. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  3. Dalya Alberge (2 February 1993). "Dear Vivien, Yours Desperately: Vivien Clore Duffield takes out her index cards. 'You name a letter', she suggests. 'Take C ...,' she continues without stopping, 'Chelsea Physic Garden, Children's Legal Centre, Contemporary Dance Trust . . .' Flicking through the cards at random, she mentions the Ashmolean, the National Gallery and the V & A". The Independent. Retrieved 4 July 2015.
  4. "LMH, Oxford – Prominent Alumni". Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  5. Elizabeth Grice (29 May 2008). "Dame Vivien Duffield: 'You're lucky if you have one good relationship'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  6. Charlotte Edwardes (10 July 2013). "Meet Dame Vivien Duffield, London's super-philanthropist – and step-granny to that 'wild beauty' Cara Delevingne". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  7. Dan Glaister (15 November 2011). "Lady bountiful". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
  8. "Honorary Fellows - RCA". Retrieved 26 November 2017.
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