Mystery of Laurel Canyon: questions trouble the death of William de Rothschild

The old man told his neighbors that he was a Rothschild – a member of the prominent European family whose collective fortune is worth billions of dollars. He certainly seemed to have some of the attributes of a descendant of esteemed bankers, including a classic car collection including Ferraris and Jaguars.

But days after William de Rothschild, 87, was found dead last week in his fire-damaged Laurel Canyon home, questions arose about his identity. He was not born under this name and does not appear in the official genealogy preserved in the Rothschild archives.

A court file could explain how he became a Rothschild: by making himself a Rothschild.

It wouldn’t be the first time. The Jewish dynasty, which originated in Frankfurt, Germany, has long dealt with impostors who tried to inflate their status with the name.

In 1985, a man named William Alfred Kauffman petitioned the Los Angeles County Superior Court to change his name to William Alexander de Rothschild.

“I want to take my last name, which I prefer over Kauffman, it would greatly simplify my life, taking my mother’s name,” he said in the legal filing. The filing, which includes his address on Lookout Mountain Avenue, says “no one objected” to the request, and a judge quickly granted it.

The name change – and De Rothschild’s death – was news to his younger brother, Richard Kauffman of Oregon. Reached by phone, he told the Times that his brother “disappeared” in the 1960s or 1970s and was long presumed dead. He said he knew of no family ties to the Rothschilds and that he and his relatives were not Jewish.

“My brother is not a Rothschild, as far as I know,” Kauffman, 78, said.

“It’s strange, because I thought he died years ago, because he disappeared,” he continued. “(There had been) no contact with my parents, who were getting older. It’s a strange feeling.

De Rothschild’s body was found after Los Angeles firefighters responded to a fire at his Lookout Mountain Avenue residence on November 27. The cause of the fire, which was extinguished by 45 firefighters in just over 30 minutes, remains under investigation. by the Los Angeles Police Department and Fire Department.

The Times could not verify other details about De Rothschild that his neighbors shared in interviews last week, including his alleged donation of a cache of cars to the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. A Petersen representative said there was no record of any De Rothschild vehicles having been loaned or donated to the museum.

A neighbor who had known De Rothschild for many years told The Times he was surprised by the incongruous findings. The man, who asked that his name be withheld for privacy reasons, said Rothschild “came across as truly educated” and “very polite.”

“He behaved like I think a Rothschild would,” said the neighbor, who added that in about a decade he had seen about 50 classic Rothschild automobiles, ranging from European grand tourers to American muscle cars. “The money is there, whether it’s Rothschild money or not.”

Kauffman said he remembered his brother liking cars and could imagine him taking liberties with the truth.

“I could see him taking the name Rothschild,” he said.

The “aura” of a famous name

William Kauffman was born in Colorado in 1937, but his family soon moved to Salem, Ore., where he attended North Salem High School and graduated in the mid-1950s, his brother Richard said.

Being nine years apart, he said, they weren’t particularly close as children. Yet he remembered his brother as a gifted artist who painted and sculpted. He was also something of an enigma.

“My brother was a pretty mysterious character when I knew him,” Kauffman said.

After high school, his brother went to the University of Oregon, Kauffman said, then left the state in the 1960s or 1970s. By 1972, the man who would become William de Rothschild had purchased the Lookout home Mountain, located in an artistic enclave then famous for its musical residents, including Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and “Mama Cass” Elliot.

Kauffman said he spoke with his brother only once after his brother left Oregon. Sometime in the 70s or 80s, Kauffman said, his brother called him for a brief conversation. It was a “very strange” call.

“He didn’t explain where he went. I was very surprised. … I told him he should contact our parents because they were getting a little older,” he said.

De Rothschild’s neighbors thought he was a wealthy man, but his residence hardly gives the impression that it was once a glamorous canyon mansion. Described by a real estate listing service as a two-bedroom, 825-square-foot property worth about $1 million, it is now burned out and in disrepair. The house, accessible by a long tiled staircase, dominates the roadway behind a large green gate.

A representative from the Los Angeles County medical examiner said Tuesday that the process of identifying the deceased man’s body was ongoing. The office will also determine the cause of death.

Mike Rothschild, author of “Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories,” said that in the past, Rothschild impostors “certainly did it for money or influence, being gave the aura that the name still has.”

The Rothschilds have long dominated European banking, with the family’s English and French branches playing major roles in finance and politics, particularly in the 18th and 19th centuries. At one time, the Rothschilds were widely considered to have amassed the largest private fortune in the world.

“It is assumed that anyone named Rothschild has access to unlimited amounts of money and power, and this attracts both scammers and people who want to enter these circles,” said Rothschild, the author, who n is not related to the family. He first noted in an article on his website that William de Rothschild was not included in the family genealogy. “It remains a mystery why the fire victim was able to use that name.”

Indeed, there is no evidence that De Rothschild publicly used his identity to seek fame or fortune. But there have been a handful of notable Rothschild impostors over the years, including Inna Yashchyshyn, who posed as Anna de Rothschild during a visit to Mar-A-Lago in 2021.

While there, Yashchyshyn, who was born in Ukraine and speaks Russian, met with Donald Trump and his friends and family, according to a report from the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

A remarkable automotive family

William de Rothschild’s interest in cars may have blossomed into marriage.

According to public records, he married Margaux Mirkin in Nevada in 1999. She is the daughter of the late Morris Mirkin, founder of Budget Rent-a-Car.

A 1985 Times article said the younger Mirkin operated Budget’s “Drive A Dream” facility in Beverly Hills, where high-end vehicles, including Mercedes-Benzes and Rolls-Royces, could be rented.

“People come here to express themselves and realize a dream,” she said. “They park their Chevy and see Hollywood like the stars. …I have the most beautiful cars in the world here.”

Five years later, a Times article on the second-hand clothing trade described Mirkin as “a serious collector, designer and restorer of vintage clothing.”

“I’m lucky to find people who respect what I buy,” she said in the 1990 article.

Oddly, several Lookout Mountain residents told the Times that they knew Mirkin as Rothschild’s cousin or sister — not his wife. His name is associated with a property located next to Rothschild’s home, according to public records.

Mirkin did not respond to requests for an interview. Kauffman said he did not know about Mirkin or the marriage.

These jarring details made Rothschild’s longtime neighbor curious to know more. “All the neighbors would want a closure,” he said.

The resident said Rothschild seemed happiest when talking about his automotive hobby: “He was a pretty lonely older man for the most part. The only thing that excited him was when the cars arrived.

To Kauffman’s knowledge, De Rothschild never reconnected with his parents, both of whom are now deceased. He said he was sad to learn of his brother’s death, but was also comforted to learn some of the details of his life in Los Angeles.

“He probably lived a long and interesting life,” Kauffman said.

Times researcher Scott Wilson contributed to this report.