Harry Oppenheimer

Harry Oppenheimer, the South African billionaire who controlled the world’s diamond trade for more than a quarter-century, has died. He was 91.

Oppenheimer was admitted to a Johannesburg hospital in mid-August, complaining of severe abdominal pains and a headache. He died the following night, though the exact cause of death remains unknown.

Oppenheimer rose to prominence when he took control of the family empire after his father, Ernest, died in 1957. As head of Johannesburg-based Anglo American, Oppenheimer controlled almost 40% of South Africa’s gold and half of its coal, as well as a sixth of the world’s copper and most of its diamonds.

As chairman of De Beers Consolidated Mines, the Oxford graduate formed a cartel that regulated the production and distribution of about 80% of the world’s diamonds. Through the Central Selling Organization (CSO, recently replaced by the Diamond Trading Company), De Beer’s placed only a few diamonds on the market, even in times of excess production, to keep prices and profits high.

Once, when asked whether he preferred diamonds or gold, Oppenheimer replied: “Diamonds every time. People buy diamonds out of vanity; they buy gold because they are too stupid to think of any other monetary system that will work.”

In 1957, diamond sales through the CSO were US$317 million; when he quit as Anglo chairman in 1982, the figure was US$1.8 billion.

Oppenheimer had been involved in politics. From 1948 to 1958 he represented the city of Kimberley for the United Party. He became the chief opposition speaker on mining and finance but after inheriting Anglo American from his father, he gave up his seat.

Nevertheless, he played an essential part in creating the Progressive Party (later the Progressive Federal Party) which throughout the 1960s had Helen Suzman as its sole representative in the white South African Parliament, but which by 1977 had won 17 seats.

Oppenheimer expressed opposition to apartheid. In a 1989 speech, he said 40 years of apartheid “has made South Africa stink in the nostrils of decent, humane people around the world.”

He pointed out that apartheid had prevented his companies from employing as many blacks (in place of whites) as they would have wanted. However, his critics claim his company got fat on cheap black labour. In 1997, Forbes magazine estimated his worth at US$2.5 billion.

Oppenheimer married Bridget McCall in 1943; they had a daughter, Mary, and a son, Nicholas. Nicholas is currently chairman of De Beers and Anglo Gold.