The son of a Hampstead dentist, Sir John entered Dulwich College in south London as a boarder, but left school at 16 to be an office boy at the surveying firm Edward Erdman. He co-founded his own agency, Conrad Ritblat — now part of Colliers — in 1969 became chairman of Union Property Holdings, merging with British Land the following year. Buying into trophy assets such as the Broadgate office estate in the City but incurring the disapproval of some shareholders and analysts for his idiosyncratic take on corporate governance. He built it into a blue-chip company worth £18 billion by the time he retired in 2006. His son is Jamie Ritblat, much like his father he works primarily in real estate. The property tycoon who redeveloped the Olympic athletes’ village in east London and sold the Royal Mint in the City to China for its new embassy. Delancey DV4 was founded by Ritblat & registered in the British Virgin Island, it currently is principally involved in the redevelopment of the Elephant & Castle shopping centre aided by the recently outgoing Labour MP Peter John. In 2016, photographs of his daughter Daisy’s 18th birthday surfaced on Facebook. They showed a spectacular party featuring performances from the comedian Michael McIntyre and the singer Jess Glynne, and a balloon-filled circus tent with live camels and monkeys. In 1979, his first wife Isabel Ritblat boarded a twin-engined Beechcraft from St. Mortiz in Switzerland after a nervous breakdown due to Sir John’s extramarital affairs. Police had ruled out foul play in the death despite the fact the doors themselves were left open when Sir John assisted Isabel boarding, who fell 1,000ft from a small aircraft over a Hertfordshire airfield. I wrote agitatrixs for Isabel in Ah Beautiful Sky, a means to get to the Ritblat as the itch spreads:
Isabel Ritblat, in millibars
warm cold occluded against the wind
the Cessnar doors 172, 'Group Captain'
a gentle slip to wallbang this scythe
above the parapet & cry St. Mortiz
to foul Sir John,
the air 'a noble man'
for noblesse oblige
& regurgitate outside
a fugue state in St Andrews Hospital
tomorrow the sun rises
a chorus line
& the moon sets a private chime
to scathing a Ritblats bower,,
making hematoma flowers
permanent, sweet, & long lasting
