Robert Gavron | |
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Born | 13 September 1930 |
Died | 7 February 2015 | (aged 84)
Title | Baron Gavron of Highgate |
Known for | Publishing |
Years active | 1964 – 2015 |
Nationality | British |
Spouse(s) |
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Issue | Simon Gavron Jeremy Gavron Sarah Gavron |
Robert Gavron, Baron Gavron CBE FRSL (13 September 1930 – 7 February 2015) was a British printing millionaire, philanthropist and a Labour life peer.
Gavron was the eldest son of Nathan Gavron, a patent lawyer, and Leah Gavron. He was brought up in Hampstead Garden Suburb and studied at Leighton Park School in Reading and then at St Peter's College, Oxford. Gavron became a barrister and was called to the bar by Middle Temple in 1955.
Gavron borrowed £5,000 to purchase a failing publishing house in 1964. He renamed it the St Ives Group and served as chairman from 1964 to 1993. He was the director of Octopus Publishing between 1975 and 1987 and Electra Management from 1981 to 1992. He was also the proprietor of the Carcanet Press from 1983 to 2015 and served as the chairman of the Folio Society, (1982-2015) and the National Gallery Co Ltd (1996-1998). He was both chairman of the Guardian Media Group and a trustee of the Scott Trust between 1997 and 2000.
Gavron was chairman of the Open College of the Arts (1991-1996), a director of the Royal Opera House (1992-1998), a trustee of the National Gallery (1994-2001), and of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation (1987-2005). He was a governor of the London School of Economics (1997-2002) and chaired his own charitable trust, the Robert Gavron Charitable Trust (1974-2015). He was in 1996 elected an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.