John Samuel Schlesinger
{{Short description|South African businessman}}
{{Infobox person
| name = John Samuel Schlesinger
| birth_date = 29 March 1923
| nationality = South African
| education = Michaelhouse, Harvard University
| occupation = Businessman
| known_for = Expansion and modernization of the Schlesinger Organization
| notable_works = Large-scale real estate developments in South Africa
| spouse = Ann Lee Iva Willens (1944), Rita Rose Pane (1966)
| parents = I.W. Schlesinger and Mable May
}}
John Samuel Schlesinger (born 29 March 1923){{cite web |title=New York, United States records |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C3WP-XQJP-S?view=index|publisher=National Personnel Records Center |access-date=20 April 2025}} was a South African businessman known for transforming and expanding the Schlesinger Organization, a major real estate and cinema-chain empire originally built by his father, Isidore W. Schlesinger.
Early life and education
John Schlesinger was born into a prominent South African-American business family. He was schooled at Michaelhouse (many years later donating the Schlesinger Theatre){{cite web |last1=Bristow |first1=David |title=Headmasters of Michaelhouse |url=https://southafrica.co.za/headmasters-michaelhouse.html |website=SouthAfrica.co.za |publisher=South Africa Online |access-date=21 April 2025}} and then attended Harvard University, where he gained a reputation as a playboy known for his enthusiasm for speedboat racing and beauty pageants. During World War II he served as a U.S. Air Force bombardier, but renounced his U.S. citizenship in 1947.{{cite news |title=South Africa: His Father’s Son |url=https://time.com/archive/6807983/south-africa-his-fathers-son/ |access-date=20 April 2025 |publisher=Time Magazine |date=2 Aug 1963}}
Career
= The Schlesinger Organization =
In 1949, following the death of his father in South Africa, Schlesinger assumed leadership of the Schlesinger Organization. Initially perceived as an unlikely successor, he soon proved skeptics wrong. Over his first 14 years at the helm, he not only preserved the empire but also expanded and modernized it.{{cite book |last1=Botha |first1=Ted |title=Hollywood on the Veld: When movie mayhem gripped the City of Gold |date=2025 |publisher=Jonathan Ball |location=South Africa |isbn=9781776194681 |url=https://www.jonathanball.co.za/product/hollywood-on-the-veld/}}
File:20th Century Fox logo.svg
Recognizing the need for focus, Schlesinger began by consolidating the organization's holdings. He sold the family's chain of bioscopes to 20th Century-Fox (now 20th Century Studios) for $28 million and divested the hotels, including the iconic original Carlton Hotel in Johannesburg, which he demolished in 1963 to make way for a new office building.{{cite book |last1=Rosenthal |first1=Eric |title=Meet me at the Carlton: the story of Johannesburg's old Carlton Hotel |date=1972 |publisher=H.B. Timmins |location=Cape Town}}
= Land development =
Schlesinger ventured into large-scale land development, committing $20 million to six high-rise projects across Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, and Port Elizabeth, with additional funding earmarked for future development.{{cite web |title=Killarney Hills |url=https://www.theheritageportal.co.za/plaque/killarney-hills |website=The Heritage Portal |publisher=Johannesburg Heritage Foundation |access-date=21 April 2025}}
= Disinvestment from South Africa =
Schlesinger was ahead of his time as a prominent businessman publicly criticizing the South African Government's policy of apartheid in the 1960s, advocating for a future multiracial South Africa. However, in 1974 he severed his connection with South Africa by selling his interest in the Schlesinger Organization and moving to Switzerland.{{cite web |title=Witwatersrand Court: Schlesinger v Schlesinger 1979 (4) SA 342 (W) |url=https://ethics.bar/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/schlesinger-v-schlesinger-1979-4-sa-342-w-.pdf |publisher=Juta & Co |date=19 Dec 1978}}
Personal life
Schlesinger was a major collector and supporter of the arts and artists. When Vladimir Tretchikoff immigrated to South Africa in 1946, he was employed within the Schlesinger Organisation until he became a well-known and popular full-time artist.{{cite news |last1=O'Toole |first1=Sean |title=Tretchi, the original meme artist, enjoys lift off at auction |url=https://mg.co.za/friday/2024-03-14-tretchi-the-original-meme-artist-enjoys-lift-off-at-auction/ |access-date=21 April 2025 |publisher=The Mail & Guardian |date=14 March 2024}} Schlesinger bought Tretchikoff's famous painting, Lost Orchid, from him in 1949 as a gift for his wife, but agreed to sell it back to him a few years later for on-sale to an American actor.{{cite web |title=Tretchikoff’s Missing “lost Orchid” Re-emerges at Bonhams African Art Sale in London |url=https://arttimes.co.za/at-feature-tretchikoffs-missing-lost-orchid-re-emerges-at-bonhams-african-art-sale-in-london/ |website=ArtTimes.co.za |publisher=Art Times |access-date=21 April 2025}} Another South African artist that he supported early in his career was Italian-born sculptor, Edoardo Villa.{{cite web |last1=O'Toole |first1=Sean |title=Edoardo Villa |url=https://edoardovilla.co.za/artist/edoardo-villa |website=EdoardoVilla.co.za |publisher=The Claire and Edoardo Villa Will Trust |access-date=21 April 2025}} In 1979 he donated a collection of well over 100 African art works to the Wits Art Museum.{{cite web |title=Wits Art Museum: About Us |url=https://www.wits.ac.za/wam/about-us/ |website=www.wits.ac.za |publisher=University of the Witwatersrand |access-date=21 April 2025}}