(Reuters) – George Soros, the 83-year-old billionaire investor, philanthropist and active supporter of liberal political causes, is set to marry health care and education consultant Tamiko Bolton on Saturday at his estate near New York City.
Three days of festivities will begin Friday with a dinner followed by a reception at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan for a preview of the new exhibition, “Magritte: The Mystery of the Ordinary, 1926-1938” of works by Belgian painter Rene Magritte.
Soros and Bolton, 42, plan to exchange vows in a small ceremony on Saturday morning at the Bedford, New York estate, which Soros bought in 2003 from “Jurassic Park” author Michael Crichton. Kimba Wood, a federal judge, will perform the non-denominational ceremony, which will be attended by members of the couple’s families, including his five children, a source familiar with the arrangements told Reuters.
The wedding ceremony will be followed by a reception on Saturday evening with more than 500 guests at an arts center in nearby Katonah. Guests at the various events include World Bank President Jim Yong Kim and some foreign leaders, including Hendrik Toomas Ilves, president of Estonia; Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, president of Liberia; and Edi Rama, prime minister of Albania.
Also expected to attend are fellow titans of the hedge fund world, Paul Tudor Jones and Julian Robertson. From the political realm those invited include Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi of California and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, both Democrats.
Soros, who established one of the first hedge funds in 1969 and is probably best known for his big bet against the British pound in 1992, met Bolton at a dinner party in 2008. Their engagement was announced in August 2012.
Bolton, who was raised in California, is the daughter of a nurse and a retired naval officer. She graduated from the University of Utah and holds an MBA from the University of Miami.
Bolton has been a consultant and entrepreneur working in the fields of health and education. She started an Internet-based dietary supplement and vitamin sales company, and her most recent project was advising on development of a web-based yoga education platform.
The bride’s dress has been designed by U.S.-based, Lebanon-born designer Reem Acra, whose gowns have shown up on the red carpet on many stars, including Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Lopez.
For Soros, who has a net worth of $20 billion according to Forbes, this will be his third marriage. It will be the second for Bolton.
When asked if there is a prenuptial agreement, the source familiar with the wedding arrangements said that Soros’s lawyer, William D. Zabel, reiterated his comments from last year that “Soros will leave the bulk of his estate to charity but he intends to provide generously for his wife.”
In 2011, Soros, who is an active contributor to politically liberal causes and frequently speaks on world economic events, converted his hedge fund into a family office and stopped managing money for outside investors.
In the past three decades, the Hungarian-born Soros has given away more than $7 billion to promote democracy, foster free speech, improve education and fight poverty around the world, according to his foundation’s website on www.opensocietyfoundations.org.
Soros was divorced from Annaliese Witschak in 1983 and Susan Weber Soros in 2005.
Chef Bo Bech of the Geist Restaurant in Copenhagen will prepare the food. Soros and Bolton first dined at Geist when visiting Copenhagen in 2009.
The reception on Saturday night will feature Hungarian composer and conductor Iván Fischer, a family friend, who created a new arrangement for the occasion, which will be presented with the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Cape Verdean singer Mayra Andrade will perform with the Harris Lane Orchestra. Andrade and Roma ensemble Via Romen will perform at a Sunday brunch.
In lieu of gifts, the couple asked that donations be made to charities including Global Witness, Harlem’s Children Zone, National Dance Institute, Planned Parenthood and the Roma Education Fund.
(Reporting By Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Martin Howell and Grant McCool)
