Albina du Boisrouvray

Albina du Boisrouvray (b.1941 in Paris) is a former journalist and film producer who has become a global philanthropist and social entrepreneur working with AIDS orphans. She is a grandchild of the Bolivian "King of Tin", Simón Patiño, who was one of the wealthiest men in the world at the time of her birth. She founded the Association François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) in 1989, in memory of her son who had died in 1986. She is godmother to Charlotte Casiraghi, daughter of Princess Caroline of Monaco.

Career

After working variously as a model, actress and freelance journalist, she established a film production company in 1969 and is credited with producing eleven movies. These include "Fort Saganne" (1984), directed by Alain Corneau and starring Gérard Depardieu. [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0092332/ Filmography, IMDb] ]

She was made Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 1985 and also became the first film producer to be awarded L’Ordre National du Mérite.

Philanthropy

In financing the establishment of FXB in 1989, she sold a large part of her assets. These included a jewellery collection auctioned by Sotheby's in New York for $31.2 million, an art collection of $20 million, and a substantial part of her family real-estate business which fetched $50 million. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml?xml=/health/2000/07/08/tlcount.xml&site=13&page=0 "A one-woman crusade", July 2000] ]

Awards

She was awarded the 2002 North-South Prize by the Council of Europe.

An asteroid has been named after her, "8005 Albinadubois".

Her philanthropy and humanitarian efforts earned her a knighthood of the Legion d'Honneur in 2001.

Notes

ources

* [http://www.un.org/womenwatch/osagi/network/network_vol9no4.pdf UN Women’s Newsletter, Vol. 9, No.4, Oct/Nov/Dec 2005]
* [http://www.time.com/time/europe/hero/boisrouvray.html "One Woman's Wealth Of Care", Time magazine "Heroes", 2003]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9C0CE0D91530F937A35753C1A966958260 "Newark Visit Yields Millions For Youngest AIDS Patients", New York Times, Oct 4, 1990]
* [http://www.fxb.org/AboutFXB/founder.html Bio details]
* [http://www.fxb.org FXB website]