Dame Vivien Duffield is the daughter of Sir Charles Clore, one of Britain’s most successful post-war businessmen and one of the most generous philanthropists of his day. Continuing this tradition, Dame Vivien grew up with a firm belief in supporting charitable endeavours. After Sir Charles’ death in 1979, she assumed the Chairmanship of the Clore Foundations in Israel and in the UK. At the Weizmann Institute of Science, the Clore Foundation established the Clore Garden of Science, the Clore Center for Biological Physics, and the Clore Institute for High-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy. The Clore FOundation also supports the Sir Charles Clore-Weizmann Fund Post-Doctoral Fellowships and Sir Charles Clore Doctoral Fellowship.
In Israel, Dame Vivien served as Deputy Chair of the Board of the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1995-2008, and currently serves as a Life Member of the Institute’s International Board. She is an Honorary Fellow of the City of Jerusalem and winner of the Jerusalem Foundation’s Teddy Prize. Dame Vivien has also been awarded PhD honoris causa degrees from the Weizmann Institute of Science and from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
In the UK, Dame Vivien is closely associated with a number of charities and, since the early 1980s, has sat on various Appeal Committees and Development Boards for the NSPCC, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, and the Royal Marsden, and was a Trustee of Dulwich Picture Gallery from 1993 to 2002. She was a member of the Board of the Royal Opera House from 1990 to 2001 and is currently Chairman of the Royal Opera House Endowment Fund. Dame Vivien became a Director of the South Bank Centre board in 2002, is on the Board of the World Monuments Fund in Britain and is a Governor of the Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet School. In addition to the Chairmanship of her Foundations, Dame Vivien is also Founder and Life Patron of Eureka!, the Museum for Children in Halifax. In 2007 she was appointed Chair of the Executive Committee for the Oxford University Development Campaign. Her charitable work in the UK was acknowledged with the award of a CBE in 1989 and DBE in 2000. In November 2008 HRH the Prince of Wales presented Dame Vivien one of the first five Medals for Arts Philanthropy. The medal celebrates individuals who support the arts and recognises the contribution of the most inspiring philanthropists in the UK.
Dame Vivien initiated the Jewish Community Centre in London - JW3 - and has been a major contributor to the building, which opened in September 2013.