Billionaire media baron an eager socialite and ruthless businessman
The flamboyant, larger-than-life character with a ruthless business mind bought his first newspaper more than 30 years ago and went on to run hundreds of titles around the world, including The Daily Telegraph.
With homes in New York, Toronto, Florida and London, the socialite is known to enjoy the company of the rich, powerful and famous, with his glamorous second wife, journalist Barbara Amiel, 66, by his side.
But Lord Black of Crossharbour has seen his empire and power unravel in the space of four years as he faced the racketeering, fraud and obstruction of justice charges.
Born in Montreal, Canada, on August 25, 1944, his father George was a wealthy brewery executive.
Black’s entrepreneurial skills first caused him trouble when he was expelled as a 14-year-old student from Toronto’s elite Upper Canada College after he made $1,400 by selling his classmates’ stolen exams.
He went on to study history at Carleton University, law at Laval and achieved an MA from McGill before he bought his first newspaper, the Eastern Townships Advertiser in Quebec, in 1966.
His media empire began to develop as he bought more small Canadian newspapers before he co-founded the Sterling Newspapers Group in 1971.
Seven years later, he became chair of the Argus Corporation, from which he launched the Hollinger group.
By the 1990s, Hollinger controlled 60% of Canadian newspapers, along with hundreds of dailies in England, the US, Australia and Israel.
At its peak in 1999, Hollingerhad revenues of more than $2 billion and Black was publisher of the third-biggest group of newspapers in the world.
Black’s first marriage was to Joanne (born Shirley) Hishon, of Montreal, by whom he has two sons, Jonathan David Conrad and James Patrick Leonard Black, and a daughter, Alana Whitney Elizabeth Black.
The couple divorced in 1992, the same year Black married British-born Barbara Amiel.
He hit the headlines again when the British government moved to ennoble him and was opposed by Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien, who used the Nickle Resolution of 1919 to rule that foreign governments could not grant honours to Canadians that carry a title of privilege.
After an unsuccessful court challenge, Black renounced his Canadian citizenship and was officially inducted into the House of Lords as Lord Black of Crossharbour on October 31, 2001.
Crossharbour lies near to what was then the site of The Daily Telegraph building in the Docklands, one of the crown jewels of the Hollinger International empire.
During the trial, a long list emerged of the trappings of wealth tow which Black was accustomed.
These included Napoleon Bonaparte’s shaving stand and a set of marble elephant carvings that cost $17,710 dollars, a heated towel rail which cost $4,399, and a $9,800 set of Louis XVI painted stools with rails carved in a Guilloche pattern.
He also developed a reputation as a merciless businessman with a love of suing anyone who crossed him.
But by 2003, his downfall had begun.
Black lost control of Hollinger International when minority shareholders in the US accused him of siphoning off millions of dollars of their money to himself.
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