Marc Rich

Marc Rich was born in 1934 in Antwerp

Marc Rich was born Marcell David Reich in Antwerp in 1934 to a Jewish family, and he was an only child. In 1941 the family escaped the Nazis and reached the United States. They changed their name to Rich and later settled in New York.

He attended the Rhodes Preparatory School in Manhattan. He then studied at New York University but left after one semester. In 1954 he went to work for Philipp Brothers.

At Philipp Brothers he became a metals dealer and helped run operations in Cuba, Bolivia and Spain. He managed the Madrid office from 1964 to 1974. In 1974 he and Pincus Green founded Marc Rich + Co. AG in Switzerland, which later became Glencore.

In 1983 he and Green were indicted on charges including tax evasion, wire fraud, racketeering and trading with Iran during the embargo. He fled to Switzerland, denied guilt and never returned to the United States. His companies pleaded guilty to tax counts and paid $90 million in fines.

In 1993 he sold the company to its management and it was renamed Glencore. On January 20, 2001, President Bill Clinton pardoned him, a decision that drew criticism. He died in 2013.