Baron Robert de Rothschild, a member of the French branch of the famed banking family and a leader in Jewish philanthropic and communal activities, died in Lausanne, Switzerland, yesterday of pneumonia, it was announced today by an attorney for the family. He was 66.
Baron Rothschild returned to France in July after having spent five years in the United States. He came here in August, 1940 from England, to where he had fled aboard one of the last vessels to leave France before the Nazis overran the country. Aside from the fact that he was Jewish, Baron Rothschild was on the Nazi blacklist for his activities as head of an organization assisting German refugees in France. He was depraved of French citizenship by the Vichy Government.
While in the United States, the Baron and his late wife, who died in New York last January, participated in various Jewish and non-Jewish communal activities. He was one of the founders of a committee whose aim was to re-establish Jewish life in France.
He leaves two daughters and two sons. Both of the latter served in the French Army and were captured by the Germans.
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