After high school, he attended New York University, finishing when he was 18, in 1945. Following a year and a half of Army service, he traveled to Europe in 1947, basking in what he called the “curious intimacy” of postwar Britain and cultivating an interest in art in Paris.The next year, he wed Beata Herzfeld, who died in 1989. In addition to Ms. Bennett, whom he wed in 2001, he is survived by 3 kids from his first marital relationship, Alan, Marc and Nicole Polonsky; a stepson, Joshua-Marc Tanenbaum; six grandchildren; four great-grandchildren; and 2 siblings, Jay and Ivan. Toby, a son from his first marriage, passed away in 1986.
Throughout his time in Europe, Mr. Polonsky studied at Oxford, where he made a bachelor's degree in literature, and the Sorbonne, where he received a doctorate in literature. He began his financial career in 1955, offering mutual funds in Rome.He settled in London in 1964 and established his foundation there, with the intent of democratizing knowledge and preserving international cultural heritage. Not long after, around 1986, he renounced his U.S. citizenship, in part for tax reasons.Well into his 70s, Mr. Polonsky kept his enthusiasm for learning. In 2002, he registered in a Ph.D. program in literature at the City University of New york city, stuffing for tests and writing term papers as he had performed in his youth.
“He still needed to get directly A's,” Ms. Bennett stated. “And he did.”
