Michael Hare, 2nd Viscount Blakenham

Michael John Hare, 2nd Viscount Blakenham (25 January 1938 – 8 January 2018), was a British hereditary peer and environmentalist.

Michael Hare
Viscount Blakenham
Tenure1982–2018
PredecessorJohn Hugh Hare
SuccessorCaspar John Hare
Born25 January 1938
Died8 January 2018 (aged 79)
FatherJohn Hare, 1st Viscount Blakenham
MotherBeryl Nancy Pearson
OccupationEnvironmentalist

Blankenham was the son of Conservative politician and government minister John Hare, 1st Viscount Blakenham and Hon. Beryl Nancy Pearson, daughter of Harold Pearson, 2nd Viscount Cowdray.[1]

After some time working for partly or wholly owned subsidiaries,[2] he joined the senior management of Pearson PLC (founded by his mother's ancestors) in 1977, and was managing director from 1978 to 1983, chief executive from 1978 to 1993, and chairman from 1983 to 1997.[3][4][5] He also was Chief Executive (1983–93) and Chairman (1984–93) of the Financial Times, then a Pearson subsidiary.

A lifelong environmentalist, Blakenham was chairman of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew Gardens as well as Council Chairman of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds between 1982 and 1986 and president of Suffolk Wildlife Trust from between 1983 and 1987. He continued to develop the Blakenham Woodland Garden, which was created by his father.[6] He also owned the island of Little Colonsay in the Inner Hebrides.[7]

Blakenham lived in Suffolk and led the local political party Suffolk Together.[8] He represented the party as a member of Mid Suffolk District Council from 2007 to 2015[9] under the name Michael Blakenham. During the 2014 European Parliament election he endorsed Rupert Read, lead candidate on the Green list in the East of England constituency.[10]

Through his sister, Joanna Freda Hare, he was a brother-in-law of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.[11]

Family

In January 1965 Blankenham married his 18-year-old first cousin, Marcia Persephone Hare[12] (her father, his father's brother the Hon Alan Hare (1919–1995),[4] preceded him as head of the Financial Times). Lord and Lady Blakenham had a son and two daughters:

  • His son and successor, Caspar John Hare, 3rd Viscount Blakenham (born 1972), a philosophy professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.[13] married Melissa Mohr and has two children:[14]
    • Thomasina
    • Inigo
  • author Cressida Cowell (born 1966),[15] married Simon John Cowell and has 3 children:
    • Maisie
    • Clementine
    • Alexander
  • artist Emily Faccini (born 1967), married Ben Faccini[16] and has 3 children:
    • Francesco
    • Delfina
    • Bay

He died in January 2018 at the age of 79.[17][18]

References
  1. "Michael John Hare, 2nd Viscount Blakenham" ThePeerage.com. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  2. "Obituary: Viscount Blakenham, the man who saw off Rupert Murdoch". Australian Financial Review. 24 January 2018.
  3. http://www.debretts.com/people/biographies/browse/b/4333/Michael+John.aspx
  4. Burke's Peerage 106th edition
  5. Who's Who
  6. "The gardens today". Archived from the original on 10 September 2011. Retrieved 2 May 2010.
  7. Haswell-Smith, Hamish (2004). The Scottish Islands. Edinburgh: Canongate. ISBN 978-1-84195-454-7. p. 99
  8. "Suffolk Together".
  9. "Member's Details". Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
  10. "Lord Blakenham, Jules Peck and Hugh Kerr endorse the Green Party".
  11. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/07/11/the-courtship-of-joanna-breyer/554d7b14-f842-4170-b42e-7666d0722497
  12. "At home: Marcia Blakenham". 24 August 2012.
  13. "Caspar Hare's Webpage". web.mit.edu.
  14. "June Mohr Obituary (2016) - Shorewood, WI - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel". Legacy.com.
  15. "Film based on little island" (5 April 2010) Press and Journal. Aberdeen.
  16. "Home". emilyfaccini.com.
  17. "Michael Blakenham, former FT chairman who saw off Rupert Murdoch". 9 January 2018.
  18. "Suffolk campaigner and business leader Michael Blakenham has died". 10 January 2018.
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