Oppenheimer, Sir Ernest

Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, (born May 22, 1880, Friedberg, Hesse-Nassau, Ger.—died Nov. 25, 1957, Johannesburg, S.Af.), German-born industrialist, financier, and one of the most successful leaders in the mining industry in South Africa and Rhodesia.

Oppenheimer became a junior clerk at the age of 16 with Dunkelsbuhlers & Company, London diamond brokers. In 1902 he moved to Kimberley, S.Af., where he served as a Dunkelsbuhlers’ representative. In 1917, with considerable backing from the financier J.P. Morgan, he formed the Anglo American Corporation of South Africa, Ltd., to exploit the east Witwatersrand goldfield. Two years later he formed Consolidated Diamond Mines of South West Africa, Ltd. (reformed as the Namdeb Diamond Corp. in 1994). This diamond prospecting corporation was so successful that he gained control of the De Beers Consolidated Mines, which once dominated the world diamond market, and in 1930 established The Diamond Corporation, Ltd.

In 1929 Oppenheimer formed the Rhodesian Anglo American Corporation to exploit the rich copper deposits in Northern Rhodesia. His last project was the pioneering of new goldfields in the Orange Free State, S.Af.

Oppenheimer served as mayor of Kimberley from 1912 to 1915 and was a member of the Union of South Africa Parliament from 1924 to 1938. A philanthropist and an outstanding figure in South African life, he furthered Commonwealth studies at Oxford University. He was knighted in 1921.