Jonathan Ruffer

Early life

Jonathan Ruffer was born on 17 August 1951 in London, England, and lived from an early age in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, England. He was educated at Marlborough College, a public school in Marlborough, Wiltshire. He graduated from Sidney Sussex College, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, in 1972.

Career

Ruffer started as a stockbroker, before becoming a barrister. He is now a Bencher of the Middle Temple. He worked in corporate finance for Schroders, an accepting house bank. He worked for Dunbar, a private bank, from 1980 to 1985. He also served on the Board of Directors of one of its subsidiaries, Dunbar Fund Management, from 1981 to 1985. He then served on the Board of Directors of CFS from 1985 to 1994 (re-named Rathbone Plc). He served on the Board of Directors of Odey Asset Management, founded by Crispin Odey, from 1992 to 2005; Fuel Tech from 1994 to 1998; and Electric & General Investment Trust from 2001 to 2011.

In 1994, he co-founded Ruffer Investment Management Limited, an investment management firm with Robert Shirley, 14th Earl Ferrers and Jane Tufnell. The firm was renamed Ruffer LLP in 2004 and is now based at 80 Victoria street in London. Ruffer served as its Chief Executive Officer from 1994 to 2012. He has served as its Chairman since 2011. The firm managed £15.4 billion on behalf of its clients in 2012-2013. In 2014, it had 199 employees, and additional offices in Edinburgh and Hong Kong.

He is a research fellow at St John's College, Durham. He has published articles in The Spectator.

Philanthropy

Ruffer credits William Rathbone VI as a source of inspiration for his philanthropy. He believes nobody needs more than £20 million. However, he is critical of William Temple's Christian socialism.

He served as the Chairman of the Good Shepherd Mission in Bethnal Green from 1998 to 2008. He has also supported the Church Urban Fund.

He expressed an interest in reviving County Durham through philanthropy in 2012. That same year, he donated 1 million to the Durham Foundation. A year later, in 2013, he donated £15 million to preserve Auckland Castle, the historical palace of the Bishop of Durham, through the Auckland Castle Trust, of which he is the Chair. This included the preservation of twelve paintings by Francisco de Zurbaran, present in the palace since 1756. In 2013, he donated £18 million to convert the castle into a museum on the history of Christianity, expected to open in 2018. In 2014, he decided to add a theme park to the grounds in order to bring in more visitors.

He has endowed the Jonathan Ruffer curatorial grants at The Art Fund, which give £75,000 to curators every year.

Art collection

Ruffer collects "Spanish old masters". He also owns paintings by Thomas Gainsborough.

Personal life

Ruffer is married and has a daughter. His wife is a doctor. An Anglican, he has been described by the Financial Times as "a committed evangelical Christian" and The Yorkshire Post as "a devout Christian."

He is a member of the Athenaeum Club and the Beefsteak Club. As of 2014, he had an estimated wealth of £380 million.