An 87-year-old man killed in a residential fire in the Hollywood Hills was not a member of the Rothschild family, according to a published report, and his connection to the famous and wealthy family was unclear Thursday.
William de Rothschild was found dead at a two-story, hillside home at 8551 Lookout Mountain Ave., east of Crescent Drive, last Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
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Neighbors had said the victim was a member of the famed Rothschild banking family.
But the man found dead in the fire was not born with the famous surname de Rothschild and according to the Los Angeles Times, he does not appear in the genealogy maintained in the family's archive.
In 1985, a man named William Alfred Kauffman petitioned Los Angeles County Superior Court to change his name to William Alexander de Rothschild.
"I want to take my family name, that I prefer to Kauffman, it would simplify my life greatly, taking the name from my mother's side," Kauffman stated in the legal filing, The Times reported.
The case file, which includes his address on Lookout Mountain Avenue, indicates there was "no one objecting" to the petition, and a judge soon granted it.
The name change -- and De Rothschild's death -- came as a surprise to his younger brother, Richard Kauffman of Oregon. Reached by telephone, he told The Times that his brother had "disappeared" in the 1960s or 1970s and was presumed dead long ago.
Richard Kauffman said that he knew of no family connection to the Rothschilds, and that he and his family were not Jewish.
My brother is not a Rothschild, as far as I know, said Kauffman, 78.
Neighbors seemed to believe Kauffman was also a Rothschild and described him as a bit reclusive and eccentric.
"It is very sad," nearby resident Jim Moore told ABC7. "He was a good guy. A good neighbor."
The neighbor mention Kauffman had shown him his collection of vintage cars, including Ferraris and Jaguars.
The Times could not verify other details about De Rothschild that neighbors had shared in interviews last week, including his supposed donation of a cache of cars to L.A.'s Petersen Automotive Museum. A Petersen representative said there was no record of any of De Rothschild's vehicles ever having been lent or given to the museum.
Richard Kauffman said he remembered his brother liking cars, and could envision him taking liberties with the truth.
"I could see him taking the Rothschild name," he said.
The Rothschild family dates to 15th century Frankfurt, Germany. Its banking operations later expanded to Paris, London, Vienna and Naples as the family's wealth grew, The Times reported. By the 19th century some reports called it the largest private fortune in the world.
Rothschild family members have been given noble titles from both the English monarchy and the Austrian Empire.
Thursday, the family's holdings are diversified to include real estate, financial services, mining, energy, agriculture and wine. They're also noted art collectors and philanthropists.
The Rothschild family dates to 15th century Frankfurt, Germany. Its banking operations later expanded to Paris, London, Vienna and Naples as the family's wealth grew. By the 19th century some reports called it the largest private fortune in the world, The Times reported.
According to The Times, William Kauffman was born in Colorado in 1937, but his family soon moved to Salem, Oregon, where attended North Salem High School, graduating in the mid-1950s, his brother Richard said.
Being nine years apart, Richard Kaufman said, they weren't especially close as children. Still, he remembered his sibling as a gifted artist who painted and sculpted. He was also something of an enigma.
"My brother was kind of a mysterious character when I knew him," Kauffman said.
After high school, his brother went to the University of Oregon, Kauffman said, and then left the state in the 1960s or 1970s. By 1972, the man who would become William de Rothschild had purchased the Lookout Mountain house, which was situated in an artsy enclave then famed for its musician residents, including Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and "Mama" Cass Elliot.
Kauffman said he had spoken with his brother on only one occasion after the latter left Oregon. At some point in the '70s or '80s, Kauffman said, his brother telephoned him for a brief chat. It was a "very odd call," he told The Times.
"He didn't explain where he had gone. I was very surprised. ... I told him he should get in touch with our parents because they were getting a little bit older," he said.
A Los Angeles County Medical Examiner's representative said Tuesday that the process of identifying the dead man's body was ongoing. The office will also determine the cause of death.
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