Ronald Grierson


Sir Ronald Hugh Grierson was a German-born British banker, businessman, government advisor, and British Army officer. After service in the Black Watch, attached to the Special Air Service and mentioned in dispatches, during World War II, he became a lieutenant-colonel in the post-war SAS. He was managing director of S.G. Warburg, an investment bank, from 1948 to 1985, and Vice-Chairman of General Electric Company plc, an industrial conglomerate, from 1968 to 1996. From 1972 to 1974, he was Director-General for Industry at the European Commission.

Early life

Grierson was born Rolf Hans Griessmann in Nuremberg, Germany, on 6 August 1921., the son of Ernest Griessmann. After early schooling in Nuremberg and Paris he was educated at Highgate School from 1935 to 1939 and at Balliol College, Oxford.