The Ephrussi family ([ɛfʁysi]) were a Russian Jewish banking and oil dynasty of Greek origin.
The progenitor, Charles Joachim Ephrussi (1792–1864), of Sephardic descent, made a fortune controlling grain distribution beginning in the free port of Odessa (then Russian Empire, now Ukraine) and later controlled large-scale oil resources across Crimea and the Caucasus. By 1860 the family was the world’s largest grain exporter.
Charles Joachim's eldest son, Leonid (d. 1877), founded a bank in Odessa, while his brother Ignaz (1829–1899) moved to the Austrian capital, Vienna, where he established the Ephrussi & Co. banking house in 1856. In 1872 he was elevated to the noble rank of Ritter by Habsburg emperor Franz Joseph I. In 1871 Leonid, together with his younger half-brothers Michel (1845–1914) and Maurice Ephrussi (1849–1916), founded a branch in Paris, followed by subsidiaries in London and Athens.
During the 19th century, the family possessed vast wealth, owning many castles, palaces, and estates in Europe. The family were known for their connoisseurship, intellectual interests, and their huge collections of art. Leonid's son Charles Ephrussi (1849–1905), a well-known art historian, collector and editor, became a model for the character of Charles Swann in Marcel Proust's novel In Search of Lost Time.
The family's bank and properties were seized by the Nazi authorities after the 1938 Anschluss annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany.
The family name is considered to be a variation of Ephrati, a Jewish family name attested in various countries since the 14th century and still current in present-day Israel, transformed through the Ashkenazi pronunciation (Ephrati–Ephrassi–Ephrussi).
Notable members of the Ephrussi include:
Béatrice de Rothschild-Ephrussi (1864–1934) – part of the Rothschild family
Boris Ephrussi (1901–1979), influential French geneticist (his wife, Harriett Ephrussi-Taylor, 1918–1968, was also a geneticist and crystallographer)
Charles Ephrussi (1849–1905), art historian, proprietor of the "Gazette des Beaux-Arts", an inspiration for Charles Swann in Marcel Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu
Ignace von Ephrussi (1829–1899), Austrian banker
Jules Ephrussi (1846–1915), French banker
Marie Juliette Ephrussi, Princesse de Faucigny-Lucinge, (1880–1964) – Princess de Faucigny-Lucinge
Maurice Ephrussi (1849–1916), French banker
Michel Ephrussi (1845–1914), French banker
Viktor von Ephrussi (1860–1945), Austrian banker
Elisabeth von Ephrussi (1899–1991)
Gisela von Ephrussi (1904–1985)
Ignace von Ephrussi (1906–1994)
Rudolf von Ephrussi (1918–1971)
Robert de Waal
Victor de Waal (*1929), British Anglican priest, former Dean of Canterbury
Constant Hendrik de Waal (*1931), who became 'Sir Henry de Waal', First Parliamentary Counsel 1987–1991
John de Waal (*1962), British barrister
Alexander de Waal (*1963), British writer and journalist, executive director of 'World Peace Foundation', Founder of human rights organisations 'African Rights' and 'Justice Africa', Director of 'Social Science Research Council on AIDS' New York.
Edmund de Waal (*1964), British ceramic artist, author of The Hare with Amber Eyes
Thomas de Waal (*1966), British journalist (BBC, Moscow Times and The Times), Caucasus expert, Caucasus editor at 'Institute for War and Peace Reporting', senior associate at 'Carnegie Endowment for International Peace'
Hendrik de Waal (*1955), Dutch investor
Fanny Reinach
Properties included:
Palais Ephrussi is a Ringstraßenpalais – Vienna.
Villa Ephrussi – Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on the Côte d'Azur
Hôtel de Breteuil, 12 Avenue Foch, Paris
Hôtel Ephrussi, 81 Rue de Monceau, Paris
Hôtel 11, Avenue d'Iéna, Paris
Villa Kerylos on the Côte d'Azur
Boris Ephrusi (1865, Kishinev – 1897, San Remo) – Russian economist and journalist, member of the Russkoye Bogatstvo monthly magazine, brother of Perla Ephrussi and Zinaida Michnik (Ephrussi).
Perla Ephrussi (also Paula and Polina Ephrussi, 1876, Kishinev – 1942, Pyatigorsk) – Russian educational psychologist.
Zinaida Michnik (Ephrussi) (1878, Kishinev – 1942, Pyatigorsk) — Soviet pediatric researcher.
Yakov Ephrussi (Russian: Яков Исаакович Эфрусси, 1900, Odessa – 1996, St. Petersburg) — Soviet engineer, innovator in the field of television technology, nephew of Zinaida Ephrussi and Perla Ephrussi.
The Hare with Amber Eyes (2010) is a family memoir of the Ephrussi family by British ceramicist Edmund de Waal, whose grandmother was Elisabeth Ephrussi of that family (see above).
