Reichmann family

The Reichmann family is a Canadian family best known for their property empire built through the Olympia and York company. At the family's peak, their combined wealth was estimated at $13bn, making them the fourth richest family on the planet. Fortunes waned, particularly with the ill-fated Canary Wharf development which saw the family business file for bankruptcy in 1992 with debts of $20bn. Since then, the family's interests have grown and recovered.

The Reichmanns were originally from the small shtetl of Beled, Hungary but the ambitious Samuel Reichmann moved them to Vienna in 1928 where he became a successful merchant. He and his wife Renée had six children:

During the Second World War, the family fled first to Paris and then to the neutral city of Tangier. There Samuel became a prominent business leader specializing in the currency trade. Renée became a renowned humanitarian aiding victims of the Holocaust, arranging food parcels to be delivered through the Spanish Red Cross to concentration camps such as Theresienstadt and Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Despite the financial success of life in Tangier the family left to avoid the turbulence of Moroccan independence from the French protectorate. Eva settled in London, but Edward went to Montreal where in 1955 he founded Olympia Flooring and Tile to import tiles from Europe. Edward described Montreal with its large Jewish population and opportunity for profits fondly and soon the rest of the family followed him to Canada.

Louis joined Edward in Montreal but Albert, Paul, and Ralph settled in Toronto where they first expanded Edward's tile business but then moved into construction and property development. Samuel was the leader of this business that became known as York Developments. Albert and Paul played a secondary but central role, while Ralph remained in charge of the tile business.

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