Rothschild family heir dies in house fire in Los Angeles

A reclusive member of the famous Rothschild family died in a fire in Laurel Canyon in the Hollywood Hills on November 27.

The Rothschild family is a European banking dynasty that became one of the most powerful and wealthy families in modern history.

According to reports, neighbors identified the body found on the Lookout Mountain Avenue property as that of William Rothschild.

A sheet found on the property was addressed to “WM DE ROTHSCHILD,” according to Los Angeles Times.

The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office is currently investigating the cause of death.

The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a fire in the 8500 block of Lookout Mountain Avenue at 4:40 p.m. PT. A team of 45 firefighters brought the fire under control within 33 minutes.

Some firefighters returned the following day to extinguish a small portion of the home that continued to smolder.

The fire, contained to the first floor of the two-story hillside property, did not spread to nearby vegetation or neighboring homes.

According to a statement from the fire department, “the 87-year-old home was not equipped with optional residential fire sprinklers.”

“The cause of the fire remains the focus of an active joint investigation by Los Angeles Police Department and Fire Department investigators,” the statement read.

The property, a modest two-bedroom, one-bathroom home valued at approximately $1,076,000, according to Zillow, was reportedly vacant most of the time, with many neighbors unaware of the owner’s presence.

“It’s very sad. He was a good guy. A good neighbor,” said neighbor Jim Moore.

Another neighbor, Dana Gladstone, said LA Times that he was at home during the incident but did not witness the fire.

He said he heard a woman say, “Oh my God, it’s terrible!”

“She probably got the news that he passed away,” Gladstone said.

Neighbors said Rothschild kept a collection of vintage cars, some stored at his house and others at a nearby property adorned with busts of notable figures such as Raphael and Michelangelo, along with several security cameras. Two people noted that his collection included a red Porsche previously owned by Michael Jordan, according to Los Angeles Times.

Newsweek has contacted the Los Angeles Fire Department for further comment.

The Rothschilds, a prominent Jewish family from Frankfurt, Germany, rose to dominate European banking, with their English and French branches exerting considerable influence on finance and politics, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries. The family built a financial empire that spanned several countries and greatly influenced global banking, finance and politics.

The family fortune was established by Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a Jewish banker and money changer in Frankfurt. He laid the foundations of the family’s financial empire by working with European royalty and aristocracy.

The family has long been the subject of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, many of which are based on unsubstantiated and exaggerated claims about their wealth, power and influence. These conspiracy theories often draw on family influence in the banking and finance sector.