George Soros - Personal Life

Personal Life

Soros' family changed their name from Schwartz to Soros in 1936, in response to growing anti-semitism with the rise of fascism. Tivadar liked the new name because it is a palindrome and because of its meaning. Although the specific meaning is left unstated in Kaufman's biography, in Hungarian, soros means "next in line", or "designated successor"; and, in Esperanto, it means "will soar".

Soros has been married and divorced twice:

In 1960, Soros married Annaliese Witschak. Annaliese was an ethnic German immigrant from Germany who had been orphaned during the war. Although she was not Jewish, she was well liked by Soros' parents as she had also experienced the deprivations and dislocation brought about by World War II. They divorced in 1983. They had three children:

• Robert Daniel Soros (born 1963) – He is the founder of the Central European University in Prague, as well as a network of foundations in Eastern Europe. In 1992, he married Marlene S. Schiff at the Temple Emanu-El in New York City. The Rabbi Dr. David Posner officiated the ceremony.
• Andrea Soros Colombel (born 1965) – She is the founder and president of Trace Foundation, established in 1993 to promote the cultural continuity and sustainable development of Tibetan communities within China. She is also a founding partner and member of the board of directors of the Acumen Fund, a global venture fund that employs an entrepreneurial approach in addressing the problems of global poverty She is married to Eric Colombel.
• Jonathan Tivadar Soros (born 1970) – In 1997, married Jennifer Ann Allan at the Siasconset Union Chapel in Nantucket, Massachusetts. The Rev. Edward B. Anderson, a Unitarian minister, officiated the ceremony.

In 1983 he married Susan Weber Soros, twenty five years his junior. They divorced in 2005. They have two children:

• Alexander Soros (born 1985) – Alexander is also gaining prominence for his donations to social and political causes, focusing his philanthropic efforts on "progressive causes that might not have widespread support". Alexander serves on the boards of Jewish Funds for Justice and Global Witness, and led the list of student political donors in the 2010 election cycle.
• Gregory Soros (born 1989)

Soros is engaged to Tamiko Bolton.

Soros has one elder brother, Paul Soros, who is a private investor and philanthropist. He is also an engineer who headed Soros Associates and established the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for Young Americans. He is married to Daisy (née Schlenger), who, like her husband, was a Hungarian Jewish immigrant. They have two sons Peter and Jeffrey. Peter Soros was married to the former Flora Fraser – a daughter of Lady Antonia Fraser and the late Sir Hugh Fraser and a stepdaughter of the late 2005 Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter. Fraser and Soros separated in 2009.