Simon Isaacs, 4th Marquess of Reading

Simon Charles Henry Rufus Isaacs was born on 18 May 1942. His father was Michael Isaacs, who later became the 3rd Marquess of Reading, and his mother was Margot Irene, née Duke. His paternal grandfather was Gerald Isaacs, 2nd Marquess of Reading, and his great-grandfather was Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading, who rose from modest beginnings to become Lord Chief Justice, Viceroy of India and Foreign Secretary. The marquessate was created for him by King George V in 1926, and he remained the only Jewish person ever raised to the rank of marquess in the British peerage.

Through his grandmother Eva, daughter of Alfred Mond, 1st Baron Melchett, he was also descended from the chemist and industrialist Ludwig Mond. He later spoke of his admiration for Eva, an active Zionist who converted to Judaism in 1933 and chaired the British section of the World Jewish Congress. He was educated at Eton and grew up alongside the future King Charles III, with whom he was described as a lifelong friend.

After school he was commissioned into the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards, serving as a lieutenant from 1961 to 1964. He then moved into finance, working as a stockbroker from 1964 to 1974 and becoming a member of the London Stock Exchange in 1970. From 1975 to 1980 he was marketing director of Brahmco International, and he worked for Ralph Lauren Cosmetics from 1979 to 1983. Between 1984 and 1992 he worked for Abbey Lubbock and Abbey Sports and Events. He was also a business partner of Prince Michael of Kent.

On the death of his father in 1980 he succeeded as the 4th Marquess of Reading and entered the House of Lords on 2 July 1980. He sat there as a hereditary peer until 11 November 1999, when the House of Lords Act 1999 removed most hereditary members.

His later years were given largely to charity. He chaired the Land's End John o' Groats Club from 1992 to 1996, was president of Dean Close School in Cheltenham from 1990 to 2000, and was a director of Global Flying Hospitals from 1996 to 2000. He served on the council of the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem from 2002 to 2008, joined the board of CURE International in 2004 and that of the Mertens House in Saint Petersburg in 2008. He was a patron of the Nelson Recovery Trust and, from 1998, of the Barnabas Fund, and later served as a trustee and board member across the Barnabas Aid family, most recently on the board of Barnabas Aid International. In 2003 he publicly criticised the University of Sussex's decision to sell Swanborough Manor, which his step-great-grandmother Stella, Marchioness of Reading, had given to the university.

He married Victoria Melinda Dewar, known as Mindy, on 12 May 1979. They had three children: Lady Sybilla Rufus Isaacs, born in 1980; Lady Natasha Rufus Isaacs, born in 1983, who co-founded the fashion label Beulah London; and Julian Michael Rufus Isaacs, born in 1986, who became the 5th Marquess of Reading on his father's death. He was a devoted grandfather.

In May 2021 he told The Jewish Chronicle that he and his wife planned to take Israeli citizenship, saying it was needed now more than ever and that in a way he was reconnecting with his Jewish roots. He hoped to follow his grandmother Eva by bringing supporters of Israel to the region.

His death was announced on 28 October 2026 by his daughter Lady Natasha Rufus Isaacs, in a tribute shared with family photographs. He was 84. The exact date and place of death were not given in the reports, and no cause of death was made public, although his daughter wrote that he had fought the good fight right up until the end and that his bravery was immense. She wrote that she and her mother had prayed as he went into heaven, telling him he was only getting on an earlier train.

The news came as King Charles III began a tour of the Caribbean. Barnabas Aid International issued a statement from its chairman, Michael Hewat, describing him as a true gentleman, a loyal friend and a fearless advocate for the causes and people in whom he believed. His son Julian succeeded him in the title.

He belonged to one of the most remarkable families in the British peerage and was among the hereditary peers who sat in the House of Lords before the 1999 reforms. He is remembered above all for decades of charitable work, from medical aid through Global Flying Hospitals and CURE International to his long commitment to Barnabas Aid and the cause of persecuted Christians, and for his outspoken support for Israel.