48 Facts About James Wolfensohn

James Wolfensohn served two terms as President of the World Bank on the nomination of US President Bill Clinton, and thereafter held various positions with charitable organizations and policy think-tanks including the Brookings Institution.

James Wolfensohn was born in Sydney, Australia, and was a graduate of the University of Sydney and Harvard Business School; he was an Olympic fencer.

James Wolfensohn worked for various companies in Britain and the United States before forming his own investment firm.

James Wolfensohn was born on 1 December 1933 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

James Wolfensohn's father Hyman, known as Bill, was born in London to Austrian-Jewish immigrants, while his mother Dora was born in Belgium to Polish parents.

James Wolfensohn's father was a "highly intelligent but failed businessman" who had previously worked for the Rothschild banking family.

James Wolfensohn was named after James Armand de Rothschild, his father's former employer, whose birthday he shared.

James Wolfensohn's mother sang with Australian radio and gave him piano lessons, instilling in him a love of the symphony.

James Wolfensohn's father struggled financially, and in his autobiography, A Global Life, Wolfensohn described how monetary insecurity was a fact of life from childhood and explained that he was always looking for a cushion to protect himself from it.

James Wolfensohn attended Woollahra Public School, and then Sydney Boys High School.

James Wolfensohn entered the University of Sydney at the age of 16, graduating Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws.

James Wolfensohn was a member of the Australian fencing team at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, participating in the Men's Team Epee and an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force.

James Wolfensohn worked for an air-conditioner company requiring him to travel across India, Nigeria, Greece, Mexico, Latin America, and other developing countries.

James Wolfensohn was a senior executive in the London office before becoming managing director of the bank's New York City office from 1970 to 1976.

James Wolfensohn later became a senior executive at Salomon Brothers.

In 1979, together with Chrysler Corporation's then chief executive officer Lee Iacocca and then President of the New York Fed Paul A Volcker, who later became Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Wolfensohn helped orchestrate the rescue of Chrysler from the verge of bankruptcy.

James Wolfensohn next established his own investment firm, James D Wolfensohn, Inc.

James Wolfensohn was the chairman of the International Advisory Board of Citigroup.

James Wolfensohn became the ninth president of the World Bank on 1 July 1995 after he was nominated by US President Bill Clinton.

James Wolfensohn was unanimously supported by the bank's board of executive directors for a second five-year term in 2000, becoming the third person to serve two terms in the position after Eugene R Black and Robert McNamara.

James Wolfensohn visited more than 120 countries around the world during his term as president.

James Wolfensohn believed that the People's Republic of China sought to obtain know-how in addition to money from the Bank, with the People's Republic going from a net borrower to holding over two and a half trillion in foreign exchange reserves.

James Wolfensohn is credited, with among other things, having been the first World Bank president to bring attention to the problem of corruption in the area of development financing.

James Wolfensohn is credited for reforms at the World Bank, including decentralization, technology investments, and moves towards openness.

James Wolfensohn's time at the Bank was a period of shift from complex infrastructure projects in developing economies to social-sector led programs.

James Wolfensohn brought attention to contemporary Africa when he hosted the award-winning visual artist Ibiyinka Alao during the show "Visions and Vignettes" presented by the World Bank Art Program.

On 3 January 2005, James Wolfensohn announced he would not seek a third term as president.

James Wolfensohn served as an advisor to the Grassroots Business Fund.

James Wolfensohn resigned after 11 months as special envoy when he understood the United States government to be undermining his efforts and firing his staff.

In 2006, James Wolfensohn founded the James Wolfensohn Center for Development at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, DC-based think tank.

James Wolfensohn was a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation, and served as an honorary trustee of the Brookings Institution.

James Wolfensohn was a trustee and past chairman of the board of trustees of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.

James Wolfensohn was chairman emeritus of the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC and of the Carnegie Hall in New York City.

In July 2008, James Wolfensohn was selected as one of the inaugural fellows of the Australian Institute of International Affairs.

James Wolfensohn served on the board of various charitable foundations, including the Wolfensohn Family Foundation.

Between 1985 and 2015 James Wolfensohn attended 27 conferences of the Bilderberg Group, which rendered him one of the most frequent participants of the organization during this time period.

James Wolfensohn attended meetings of the Aspen Institute and the World Economic Forum.

James Wolfensohn was a one time a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group.

In 2004, James Wolfensohn was the commencement speaker at Brandeis University.

James Wolfensohn was a member of the Honorary Board of the International Paralympic Committee.

James Wolfensohn married Elaine Botwinick, sister of IT entrepreneur Edward Botwinick, in 1961.

James Wolfensohn began cello studies with Jacqueline du Pre, a friend, at the age of 41 when she offered to teach him on the condition that he perform on his 50th birthday at Carnegie Hall in New York City, which he did.

James Wolfensohn repeated the exercise on his 60th and 70th birthdays with Yo-Yo Ma and Bono.

James Wolfensohn continued to play and appeared, together with musician friends, at private events at Carnegie Hall and elsewhere.

James Wolfensohn died on 25 November 2020 in Manhattan of complications from pneumonia, aged 86, six days short of his 87th birthday.

James Wolfensohn became an honorary officer of the Order of Australia in 1987, received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 1993, and an honorary knighthood of the Order of the British Empire in 1995 for his service to the arts.

In 2006, James Wolfensohn received the Leo Baeck Medal for his humanitarian work promoting tolerance and social justice.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, James Wolfensohn was inducted into the Olympians for Life project.